Nickelodeon's Kingdom Hearts II: Prologue
by MegaTenDouche
Summary: Lately, a boy named Ikkxou who lives in a small town called Twilight Town has been having dreams about taking the place of a boy whose journey across to many worlds along side two companions. And if that wasn't odd enough, He's also experienced weird thing things around as well. Each day gets weirder as more and more events unfold.
1. Premise

_-Nickelodeon's Kingdom Hearts II-_

 _ **Summary:**_

 _This is the Prologue of Nickelodeon's Kingdom Hearts II. This will tell the story of Ikkxou during his time in "Twilight Town", mirroring Kingdom Hearts II where you play as Roxas for a little while before playing as Sora.  
_

 _ **-Main Characters-**_

* * *

 **Ikkxou (Voiced by Jesse David Corti/Akira Ishida):** A boy who lives in Twilight Town.

 _ **Ikkxou's design:**_

Ikkxou is the spitting image of Kioku when it comes to facial features. Ikkxou's long blonde hair differs from Kioku's as his hair style as it is pulled back into a ponytail with his bangs slightly draping over his eyes. He has two black and white matching cross hair pins which they are each on both sides of his hair. He wears a black, turtleneck jacket with a zipper resembling the Nobody symbol. Over this, Ikkxou wears another jacket, this one unzipped and white, with several black block designs and a black hem on the end of each sleeve. This jacket's hood is black with red on the inside. Ikkxou also wears two-colored pants; the legs of his pants were black with several of what looked like buttons on the hem that appeared to attach the legs to the rest of the cloth, which is white. Ikkxou's wears black sneakers with black straps and dark grey soles. Finally, Ikkxou wears two wrist bands with a black-and-white checkerboard patterns, as well as a plain black ring on his left index finger and a plain white ring on his left middle finger.

* * *

 _Supporting Characters:_

 **Nero** (A courageous boy who lives in Twilight Town with his friends Lena and Meru) _**(Voiced by: Troy Baker/Romi Park)**_

 _ **Nero's design:**_

Nero sports platinum blonde hair with red eyes. He wears a maroon hoodie with the left sleeve ripped off and a black t-shirt under it. Nero also wears navy blue shorts with maroon sneakers with white soles, and for accessories, Nero had wireless headphones around his neck at all times and he wears one black wristband on his left wrist. He also sports a chain on the right side of his pants.

Meru (A girl who lives in Twilight Town with her friends Nero and Lena) _**(Voiced by: Monica Rial/Mamiko Noto)**_

 _ **Meru's design:**_

Meru has long, fluffy rose pink colored hair with green eyes. She wears glasses with red frames to help her with her eyesight. Clothing wise, Meru wears a small unbuttoned white sweater with a light pink tanktop with white floral design at the bottom under it and a dark red skirt with black socks and dark rose colored sneakers.

Lena (a girl who lives in Twilight Town with her friends Meru and Nero) _**(Voiced by: Erica Mendez/Yui Horie)**_

 _ **Lena's Design:**_

Lena has dark brown eyes and styles her long black hair into two twin pigtails and bangs. She wears an unzipped, sleeveless orange hoodie with a white t-shirt under it and baggy khaki-colored shorts with white sneakers. Lena also wears a black choker around her neck.

Groose (A bully who runs Twilight Town's Disciplinary Commitee with Strich and Cawlin.)

Strich (A tall and lanky bully who is in Twilight Town's Disciplinary Commitee with Groose and Cawlin.)

Cawlin (A short and chubby bully who is in Twilight Town's Disciplinary Commitee with Groose and Strich.)

Skully (A mischievous mask-wearing kid who hangs around Groose's gang.)


	2. Chapter 1: First Day

_**Chapter 1: Twilight Town**_

 _"Kioku!"_

 _Kioku opened his eyes and he was greeted by the clear blue skies, with the warm sun beaming down on him. He sat up and yawned, ruffling his hair. Kioku looked up and shielded his eyes from the sun's glare right before resting back on the lush grass, but soon met eyes with a familiar female face._

 _"Whoa!" Kioku exclaimed as he jumped up. The girl giggled at the boy's reaction._

 _"Jeez, gimme a break Tai-"_

 _The two boys looked at each other and then began to race down the hill, with Taiyo following behind them. The closer Kioku and Yoru got to town, the faster they ran._

 _"Getting tired, Kioku?" Yoru yelled at his friend as they were nearly neck and neck._

 _"Nope! But I see sweat on your brow as we speak!" Kioku smirked._

 _Yoru laughed. "Alright, to the garage we go!"_

 _"Y'know, I wonder if we'll actually find another world, at the end of the sea." Kioku gently touched the boat. "Wonder what it'll be like."_

 _"Everything will be answered when we get there." Yoru answered. "We'll know what kind of world Tai-came from, and why we're here."_

 _"Plus, if Tai- never came to our town, we wouldn't even had the idea that other worlds besides ours had existed." Yoru went on. "We would've been stuck here in this boring, unchanging place."_

 _"This world has been connected.." The cloaked figure said. "Tied to the darkness."_

 _Panting, Kioku chuckled and put and hand on Yoru's shoulder. "But..there's no time to talk...the town...monsters-"_

 _"The door.." Yoru interrupted._

 _Kioku tilted his head slightly. "Wha?"_

 _"The door has opened, Kioku." Yoru said, turning around. The look in his eyes was foreign. The calm and collected vibe was replaced by a cold and ruthless stare. His lips with curled into a smirk. "Now, we can go to the outside world!"_

 _"What are you talking about, this isn't the time for games." Kioku yelled over the wind. "We need to find Tai- and get going! I thought she was with you, anyways."_

 _"Tai-'s coming with us!" Yoru grinned. Kioku's eyes widen. "Once we step through, we might never be able to come back. We may never see our parents again. There's no turning back, Kioku."_

 _Yoru ran his fingers through his hair, "This may be our only chance! We can't let fear stop us. I'm not afraid of the darkness!"_

 _"You understand nothing.."_

 _"Kio..ku.."_

 _Kioku, confused, looked back to she where she went, but was soon rushed out of the treehouse by the strong gusts of wind._

* * *

Ikkxou opened his eyes as the light from the sunset glared through the window. He slowly sat up and stretched his limbs. He yawned and stared down at his feet. "Hm..another dream about him."

Recently, he's been having dreams about a boy named Kioku. In those dreams, he becomes Kioku and experiences moments alongside two other friends. One named Yoru, while the other, he didn't quite catch it. Even though he takes the form of another boy, his will doesn't belong there. So Ikkxou can only react to the senses. It was pretty strange.

"I'd better get dressed. My friends must be waiting." Ikkxou pulled himself out of bed and trudged into his bathroom.

* * *

 _ **-Twilight Town: Usual Spot-**_

 _ **(Field Theme: Lazy Afternoons)**_

After getting dressed and refreshed, Ikkxou went to hang out with his three best friends. Nero, a boy that has a courageous demeanor. Lena, a tomboy who likes to play rough, but also has her girly moments. And Meru, a shy girl, but will come to her friends' aid when ever it may be. While Ikkxou was too busy thinking about the dream he had, the other three were talking about something that's happened to them.

"That pisses me off, man..." Nero scoffed, punching his other hand in anger. Lena nodded in agreement.

"You're not the only one. That's just wrong." She agreed. Meru spoke up softly. "Y-Yeah! Groose has taken this way too far!"

Nero glared over at Ikkxou, who was off in another world. He spit on the ground and shouted. "Hey! Ikkxou! You even listenin'?" He shouted. Ikkxou flinched, bringing himself back to reality. He looked over at Nero, who was waiting for an answer.

"No..what's going on again?" Ikkxou shrugged sheepishly. Nero groaned. He stood up and started to pace around the room. "Groose and his gang are goin' around telling people that we've been stealing things."

"It's true that stuff's been stolen around town." Nero continued. "And also the fact that all of us have a score to settle with Groose and everything. So if the guy wants to think that we did it, so be it."

Nero clenched his fists. "But when you go around town, tellin' everybody that we've been stealing all that crap. Now all we get from people when we walk around the marketplace is dirty looks and disgusting stuff being said to us. That _really_ pisses me off."

Nero was shaking with anger, it's true, he's never been this mad before. But Ikkxou could kind of see what he was talking about. Before Ikkxou came here, he stopped by the bookstore to pick up a few things for the summer homework. But the shopkeepers had immediately yelled at him and told him to get out before the police were called. And if that wasn't enough, Ikkxou was harassed by a few of the gossiping townsfolk. Saying that he and his friends were nothing but filthy thugs and heathens.

"Yeah, I feel you on that one Nero.." Ikkxou agreed.

Nero picked up a blue struggle bat and swung it around. "I won't forgive those jerks! Let's just kick their asses. I'll draw blood from 'em!"

Lena hopped up and grabbed her own struggle bat. "Hell yeah, I'm with ya on that one Nerry!"

The two were spouting threats towards Groose and his gang, plotting on finding them and beating them up. But Ikkxou and Meru looked towards each other awkwardly, and wondered about a nonviolent resolution. "Uh, guys?"

Nero and Lena stopped shouting and turned towards Ikkxou and Meru. "What is it?"

"Why not we find the actual thieves, then?" Ikkxou suggested. "Clearing our names is our top priority, no?" Nero lowered his struggle bat. "It..is?"

Lena laughed and shoved Nero out of the away, "Screw his plan, I like Ikkxou's better!"

Meru smiled. "Why yes, finding the real thieves sounds like such a pleasant adventure."

Nero stood up and brushed himself off, He heaved his struggle bat up to his shoulder. "Yeah, that's it. We'll hunt down the real culprits, beat 'em down, and prove to the rest of the town that Nero and his gang ain't no thieves!"

Nero walked towards the thick, dirty tarp that served as a door. "Now move your asses!"

"Just a sec, lemme grab my camera!" Lena rifled through a pile of junk quickly, looking for the camera. Meru looked over at Ikkxou and gave him a wink. "Thanks Ikkxou."

Ikkxou blushed and nodded. But soon, trouble struck as Lena yelled out in anger.

"The hell! We've been robbed too, Ner!"

Nero gritted his teeth, "Say what?!"

Lena rifled through the pile again, "Last year's important — are gone!" She yelled. "They're all gone!"

The rest of them didn't have a reaction, as they didn't know what was stolen. Lena's voice went blank every time she tried to say that specific word. Lena looked back to see if everyone was worried. "What's with those faces, can't you see that we've been robbed here?!"

Nero slowly walked towards Lena. "What are you tryin' to say, spit it out!"

"I am! I'm trying to say the everybody's '—' are gone!" Lena tried to say, but her voice went blank again just as she tried to say that word. Nero became impatient and grabbed Lena's wrist forcefully. "Don't be screwin' around during a time like this, Lennie!" Nero yelled. "Our rep is on the line here!"

Lena saw the anger and seriousness in Nero's eyes, which made her cheeks burn red slightly. She frowned and yanked her wrist away. "I ain't messin' around, okay?"

"See for yourselves." Lena said, offering the others the large box of junk to look through. Ikkxou, Nero and Meru walked up to the box and looked through it. Ikkxou gasped as he realized the Lena was right. Something important of theirs was missing.

"Our..—...gone?" Ikkxou said, his voice also going blank. Lena pointed at Ikkxou frantically.

"See! It ain't just me!"

Meru frowned sadly, "We can't say '—', why not?"

Ikkxou sighed. "Stolen."

"And not just the '—', the word. They stole that too."

Nero tried to say the word, but his voice kept going blank, and he only made himself angrier just by trying to say it more. "Grrr, what the hell kind a' thief is this? There's no way Groose coulda pulled this off."

Nero shoved his free hand in the pouch of his hoodie and walked towards the tarp. "All right, it's time for recon." He ordered. Nero rushed out of the Usual Spot and into the alleyways, followed by Meru and Lena. Ikkxou had began to run after them, but he started to feel very dizzy.

"Ngh..what the..heck?" Ikkxou muttered. His vision went black and he collapsed to the ground.

* * *

"His heart is returning." A man said.

"Doubtless he'll awaken, very soon.."

* * *

After a minute, Ikkxou woke back up. He stood up from the ground and brushed himself off. What the heck just happened? Ikkxou tried to think of why he had blacked out so randomly, but while he was thinking, Meru had come back to get him. She smiled at him.

"Ikkxou, are you coming?" She asked. Ikkxou ruffled his hair. "Uh yeah..sorry.."

* * *

 ** _-Twilight Town: Sandlot-_**

The four of them peeked from behind the corner of a building, looking over at the sandlot. There, they saw Groose's gang. The short and fat one, Cawlin. The tall and skinny one, Strich. And Skully, a boy who wears a funny-looking mask. They never knew why he hung around with Groose anyways.

"All right, I don't wanna do this. But maybe Groose and his boys might know something." Nero whispered. Ikkxou squinted, but couldn't find Groose anywhere near his gang.

"Hey, where's Groose, He's not with his gang." Ikkxou whispered. Suddenly, they all felt a strong force shove them out into the open. Ikkxou and his friends hit the ground with a thud. From behind them, Groose walked out and stroked his red pompadour hairstyle, glaring at them

"What are you guys sneaking around for?" He asked abruptly. Groose then called over to his gang, asking them to come over to him. "Fellas, come over here! We've been targeted by these thieves!"

Nero stood up and got ready to charge at Groose with his Struggle Bat. "What was that?!"

Ikkxou held the boy back, restraining him from fighting. Cawlin, Strich and Skully came running to Groose's aid. They all surrounded Ikkxou and the others.

"Haha!" Groose laughed. "And what's wrong with calling out the thieves, you thieves!"

Cawlin instigated. "Yeah, you robbers."

"You shouldn't even by showing your faces around here!" Strich glared. Nero struggled to free himself so that he could beat some sense into Groose. "You're the ones tellin' everyone that crap!"

Groose's eyes darted towards Ikkxou. "Blondie.."

"What?" He answered.

"Tell us. Tell us where you stashed our beloved '—'". Groose asked. "After all, you wanted to erase the proof of me beating you fair and square. So you stole it, yes?"

Ikkxou scoffed and shoved Nero aside. "Don't treat people as thieves whenever you feel like." Nero and the others gasped as Ikkxou had talked back to Groose. Strich laughed and punched his hand. "I dunno Groose, I think this guy is getting a little tough, eh? Why don't we get some revenge outta him."

Groose laughed and walked towards Ikkxou, towering over him. "I like the sound of that, haha!" He shoved Ikkxou away and backed up towards his gang.

"Skully, my bat." Groose ordered. Skully pulled out Groose's large Struggle Bat from his bag and handed it to him. "Hope you're ready. 'Cause once I'm done, you'll be begging for mercy."

"Nero." Ikkxou said as he extended his hand out to him. "Gimme the bat."

Lena tried to talk him out of it. "Ikkxou, c'mon man chill out. Look, let's just—"

"I _said_ , Nero—give me the bat." Ikkxou said, actually meaning it. His eyes weren't focused on anything else but Groose. Nero was hesitant about it, but he eventually gave Ikkxou his Struggle Bat. Ikkxou took the NERF-like bat into his hands and got into a stance. Nero, Lena and Meru backed away from the two, as well did Cawlin, Strich and Skully.

Groose smirked. "All right, playtime's over."

Meru yelled out to Ikkxou, "Ikkxou, please be careful!"

Nero spit on the ground. "If you lose, I'll kick your ass!"

* * *

 _ **(INFORMATION: Defeat Groose!)**_

 _ **(Battle Theme: Sinister Sundown)**_

Groose charged at Ikkxou and took a quick swing. Ikkxou jumped back to dodge, and swung his bat at Groose, who had dodged the swing. The two traded blows, until they suddenly clashed bats. Ikkxou could barely take on Groose's strength, but he managed to fend him off.

"What's the matter?" Groose chuckled. "Get serious already!"

Groose shoved Ikkxou back and swatted at him again, with Ikkxou blocking the attack. The boy tightened his grip and flipped towards Groose, which caught him off guard. Ikkxou smashed his bat into Groose's face a few times, counting it as a combo, and then spun around with another smack to the face. "Haa!"

Groose stumbled back and gritted his teeth in anger. "My..m—my face!"

Nero cheered in the background. "Yeah, that's my boy! Give 'im hell!"

Ikkxou patiently waited for Groose to make his move. The larger boy shouted in anger and raised his Struggle bat into the air. He brought it down towards Ikkxou, who quickly countered the hit and sent Groose's bat flying into the air.

Groose and his boys looked up in shock. Ikkxou smirked, "Yo, Groose."

"Down here!" Ikkxou swept Groose's legs from under him with a kick and slammed him on the ground with a loud thud. The boy pointed his bat at Groose's chin, pinning him down. Meanwhile, Groose's own Struggle Bat had fell to the ground. Ikkxou panted heavily.

Nero and the others rushed up to Ikkxou and cheered. "That's my boy, Ikkxou!"

Meru smirked at Cawlin, "Serves you right for slandering our names!"

Cawlin and Strich rushed up to Groose and shoved Ikkxou away. "He's still trainin' for that big Struggle tournament comin' up!

"Yeah!" Strich added. "We'll decide how tough you are there!"

Ikkxou laughed, happy that he was able to show Groose who's boss. Lena aimed her camera at Ikkxou near the downed Groose, "Strike a pose, boy wonder!"

Ikkxou blushed in embarrassment. He gave a nervous peace sign to the camera and she snapped the picture. Nero taunted Groose, who was sulking on the ground. "Ahaha! Look at Groose the lame ass gettin' comfy with the pavement!"

Just when Lena was about to put her camera away, a weird white creature had swift whisked it away and was eerily making it's way down the street. Meru exclaimed in horror. "Oh my, what was that thing?!" She shouted.

"It stole my camera!" Lena yelled. Nero cracked his knuckles. "So that's the culprit."

Ikkxou looked around to see where the thing was headed. He saw it's eerie looking shadow moving down the street and he quickly took off after it. Nero called out to him. "Hey, dude! Wait!" Ikkxou chased the white creature through the town, shimming out of the way of the townspeople. The creature was fast, as it had already made it to the marketplace. He ran as fast he could to catch up to it, but was soon distraught as he had lost the lead. "Crap."

Looking around, he noticed the hole in the wall, and it might have been the possible route the creatur could have taken. The briefly cold trail had sparked back up and Ikkxou ventured into the hole in the wall, coming into a large forest. He saw the creature hopping from tree to tree, going towards the large, abandoned mansion.

* * *

 ** _-Twilight Town: The Old Mansion-_**

Ikkxou cornered the thief at the gates of the old mansion. Ikkxou was slightly frightened as he thought about the haunted mansion before him. The white creature stopped and danced eerily in place, just before suddenly wiggling towards Ikkxou quickly and got really close to him

"Huh?!" Ikkxou exclaimed in confusion.

 _"We have come for you, my liege."_

Ikkxou flinched, as he had just heard that 'thing' talk. Then, a zipper on the thing's head opened up wide, making it even more creepier. Guess that serves as it's mouth? The creature became restless and swung it's arm at Ikkxou. The boy frantically moved away and swatted at the monster. But his bat had went straight through him. Ikkxou shook his head, thinking that he might have just missed.

* * *

 _ **(INFORMATION: Fight the mysterious enemy.)**_

 _ **(Battle Theme: Sinister Sundown)**_

Ikkxou swat at the monster again and again, but his attack missed every single time. No matter what Ikkxou did, he could never land an attack on the monster. He jumped away from it and panted.

"It's no use." Ikkxou sighed. He looked towards the forest, expected his friend to come following. But seconds passed, and they never showed. "The hell? Where's Nero, Lena and Meru?"

Before he knew it, the monster had summoned reinforcements which had Ikkxou surrounded at this point. Ikkxou glared at them all and tightened his Struggle Bat. The monsters moved towards him, their movements and mannerisms looking creepy and inhumanly possible. They backed him up against the gate, closing in on Ikkxou.

"Someone.." He muttered.

"Will someone help me?!"

A series of binary codes surrounded Ikkxou's Struggle Bat and in a flash of light a Keyblade appeared in his hand. It's name rang in his ears.

"Two..Become One?" Ikkxou muttered to himself. "What the..?" Ikkxou was then interrupted by the weapons sudden pull. It made him point towards the eerie monsters. "What's going on?!"


	3. Chapter 2: The Memory Thief

_**Chapter 2: The Culprit**_

 _ **(INFORMATION: Defeat the Mysterious Enemies!)**_

 _ **(Battle Theme: Sinister Sundown)**_

Ikkxou gripped his new weapon in his hand and swung at one of the monsters, cutting it in half with a single slice. The boy was shocked at his own strength, but was quickly brought back to reality as one of the monsters smacked him over the head. Ikkxou retaliated with a quick spinning strike which knocked them all backwards, giving him his space to breathe. The mysterious weapon Ikkxou held had started to tug towards the other monsters and made him slash and defeat the reast of them with ease.

"Damn it! Calm down!" Ikkxou grunted as he tried to get control of the weapon, but his eyes then gazed at some things on the ground. Surrounding Ikkxou were a bunch of photos, looking like the ones he and his circle of friends took together. He used his free hand to pick one of the pictures up and saw that it was a photo of him, Nero, Lena and Meru together at the beach.

"Ikkxou! Heey!" Nero's voice called out from the forest. Before Ikkxou could yell back, his key-like sword disappeared in a spiral of binary coding. Soon, Nero and the other two caught up to Ikkxou after chasing after him. Nero huffed and grabbed Ikkxou by his shirt and raised his fist.

"You ever make me run after you again, I'll-" Nero stopped as he looked down at the photo Ikkxou held in his hand. Nero took the photo from his friend's hand and squinted.

"The hell?" Nero said. "It's a picture of us."

Meru and Lena picked up a few pictures from the ground and looked at them, the two then coming to the same conclusion as Nero's. "Yeah, there _all_ of us." Ikkxou brushed himself off and picked up the rest of the photos and put them in the pocket of his jacket.

"Let's head back to the Usual Spot, yeah?" Ikkxou smiled.

* * *

 _-Twilight Town: Usual Spot-_

After an hour of framing all of the pictures, Meru announced her completion. "All done!"

The other three turned to her attention as she plopped down on the couch with a framed photo in her hands. Meru smiled warmly as she looked at a photo of them together at the beach. "I'm so glad that it came back to us. It's the _**picture**_ of all of our precious memories."

Lena gasped. "Meru! You said it!"

Meru flinched. "What?! D-Did I say something wrong?"

"No, no," Lena shook her head. "You can say that word!"

"But didn't I say it earlier?" Nero huffed, blushing slightly. Lena giggled and lightly shoved Nero. "But that's weird ain't it, everyone who was robbed had nothing but photos stolen. Pretty odd."

"Hold on!" Lena raised a finger. "What if the culprit wants to steal the actual Ikkxou!"

Ikkxou gasped, "T-The heck?"

Lena held out some of the pictures. "Lookit, all of the photos have Ikkxou in them."

Nero walked up to Lena and took a few of them and took a look at them. Ikkxou with one of the shopkeepers, another one with Ikkxou and the old lady who owns the candy store. One with Ikkxou and Groose fighting each other, and the last one with Ikkxou and the gang all together in front of the mansion gates. Nero nodded. "She's right."

"Maybe someone's stalking us?" Meru gasped.

"Heh, maybe some bum is diggin' through our trash or somethin'" Nero chuckled. His face then straightened up. "But in all seriousness, what the hell kinda criminal do we have on our hands?"

"Well you guys saw it, right? When he stole our camera and ran off with it." Ikkxou spoke up.

Lena gasped. "Oh crap, I remember! That thing wasn't even human!"

Ikkxou continued."Yeah, so when I chased it it lead me through the woods and we ended up in front of the mansion. And you guys didn't even come!"

Nero put an arm around Ikkxou, whihc made the boy stop talking. "Don't tell me you're _scared_ , Ikkxou."

Ikkxou coughed nervously, "Well..no..but it's a pretty weird story though."

Nero chuckled. "Besides, who would want to kidnap a doofus like you anyways?"

Ikkxou cracked a smile, "Wow, thanks!"

His playful response made everyone laugh, including himself. It felt nice to have some laughter after the weird situation they were thrown in. Then, their laughter was interrupted by the loud chime of the clocktower bell that echoed throughout the town. Nero's smile faded and he let go of Ikkxou. Looking around, everyone else's happy and carefree expressions vanished aswell. The second day had passed them by so quickly. Ikkxou's mind flew off elsewhere as the rest of them resumed their conversations.

He thought about when he was surrounded by those eerie-looking monsters with those zipper mouths and how he fought them. And when they backed him up against the gates and closed in on him, but suddenly a myserious weapon appeared in his hand. The look of the weapon seemed familiar to him, but what was the name? What was the name of the funny looking sword?

"Hello! Earth to Ikkxou!" Lena shouted and snapped her fingers, her voice derailing his train of thought. Ikkxou looked at the other three. "Huh?"

"Were you even listening?" She snapped. Lena picked up Ikkxou's black and white checkered notebook and shoved it into his arms. "Homework, we'd better get on it before school starts up."

Oh yeah. Summer break is coming to end in another week. All of the fun things they've done during the summer will be nothing more than memories that will be stored in their hearts. In another week, it'll be back to textbooks and school desks. Annoying teachers and sleeping through classes. Horrible school lunches, and piles of homework. Ugh, Ikkxou shuddered at the thought of it. After discussing about the summer homework, everyone parted ways since it was getting late, according to the clocktower's bell.

Ikkxou walked out of the usual spot, and immediately shielded his eyes from an extremely bright glare. "Gahh..so bright.." Ikkxou fell even more fatigued then he should have, and next thing he knew he was sprawled out on the concrete floor. Out cold.

* * *

 _"W-Where..am i?" A boy's voice asked._

 _Ikkxou wondered where the voice had come from. "Hey! Who's there?!"_

 _The boy responded to Ikkxou's voice. "Who are you?"_

 **RESTORATION AT: 12%**

* * *

 _-?: Computer Room-_

A man with a bandaged face and robe sat at a computer with many monitors, looking over them all cautiously. Approaching from behind him was a tall man wearing a black coat, with the hood shrouding his face. The bandaged man didn't even turn to the cloaked man, but he spoke to him.

"Organization nuisances...they found us." He said.

The cloaked man spoke. "But DiZ, why would the Nobodies steal photographs?"

DiZ exhaled, "Both are nothing but data to them. The fools couldn't tell the difference."

An image of a girl with fiery teal hair with a black coat appeared on one of the screens. "This girl with the fiery hair. She won't take her eyes off of Ikkxou."

"Mm.." The cloaked man sighed.

"We're running out of time." DiZ announced. "Zafira must make haste, quickly!"

* * *

 _-Twilight Town: Clocktower-_

Rembex sat atop the Clocktower, looking over the town and the bright red sunset. A few Dusks and Assassins flew and fluttered over to her, one of them handing her a picture of what looked like Ikkxou in class, nearly on the brink of slumber due to boredom. Her cheeks became red and she scoffed. "You dipsticks. I w-wish you idiots would stop bringing me photos of him."

The more she looked at the photo of Ikkxou, the more she blushed. She rolled her eyes and ignited the picture in her hands, reducing it to ash in a matter of seconds. "Where's the real thing hiding at?"

* * *

 _-Meanwhile, in front of the Usual Spot-_

The cloaked man approached Ikkxou, who was unconcious since earlier. He stared at the boy's sleeping face, and it reminded him of another boy who resembled him. " _Kioku..."_

* * *

 _In an alleyway was a sleeping boy. There was Kioku, who had suddenly appeared there after the destruction of Tranquil County. He opened his eyes slowly, and looked around to see where he had ended up. He looked into his hand and saw that the_ _ **Keyblade**_ _was still with him. "Oh.."_

 _He stood up and ran out of the alleyway and into the town filled with people walking around and conversing with one another. A town where it was permanently daybreak. Kioku looked around in awe. "Holy...crap!"_

 _"I'm in another world!" Kioku screamed._

 _Kioku gasped, "Hold up! What happened to my town, what happened to my friends? Yoru! Tai-!_

 _"They definetely will come at you out of nowhere." The man pointed a finger at Kioku's_ _ **Keyblade**_ _. "But if you continue to use that_ _ **Keyblade**_ _, they won't be that much of a problem.."_

 _"Hey, why don't come with us? We can go to other worlds on our vessel!" Spongebob offered. Patrick nodded in agreement._

 _Link stepped forward. "Kioku, go with them. Especially if you want to find your friends."_

 _"Sure. I'll go with you guys!" Kioku nodded._

 _"I'm Spongebob Squarepants," Spongebob introduced himself, putting his hand out._

 _"My name is Patrick," Patrick stated, putting his hand on top of Spongebob's._

 _"And I'm Kioku," Kioku smiled, placing his hand on top on Patrick's._

 _"Hey, where'd my hand go?" Patrick said worrifully._

 _"All for one, and one for all!" Spongebob said._

 _"Those Heartless have tremendous fear over the_ _ **Keyblade**_ _." Link turned his back._

 _"Ah yes._ _ **The Keyblade**_ _." Zelda smiled._

 _"So this is the key?" Kioku asked, looking at his Keyblade._

 _Vicky kicked her feet up on the table. "The kid's a major problem. He found one of the keyholes."_

 _Kioku's Keyblade shook violently. A keyhole appeared in the sky. Kioku pointed his Keyblade at the keyhole and fired small beam into it. A loud locking sound was heard._

* * *

Ikkxou sprung up, just like the night before. He looked around, and found himself in his night clothes and laying on top of his bed. Confused he looked around as he could have sworn that he passed out in front of the Usual Spot. "When..did I get back?" He asked himself. Ikkxou looked into his palm.

"A key...blade?"


	4. Chapter 3: Sea Salt Ice Cream

_**Chapter 3: Sea Salt Ice Cream**_

 ** _-Twilight Town: Alleyway-_**

After he had gotten dressed, Ikkxou headed over to the Usual Spot to meet up with his friends. Along the way, he thought about his dreams about Kioku's adventures to another world after the destruction of his. As well as a mysterious and odd looking weapon called a "Keyblade". It was sword that was shaped like a key, and could lock and unlock things just like a key. Guess it's in the name. But let's not judge a book by it's cover, the "Keyblade" held tremendous strength and magic. That kid Kioku must be pretty important if that huge block of cheese and that pink starfish needed to find him. Ikkxou then saw a stick laying against the wall, he smiled to himself.

"A..Keyblade."

He picked it up and started to swing it around like a sword, but after a while...he felt a bit uneasy. The boy quickly shrugged it off and tossed it behind him, but the stick had apparently hit someone standing behind Ikkxou. When he turned around to apologize, Ikkxou was met by a tall man wearing a black coat, with the hood shrouding his face. Ikkxou chuckled nervously, swallowing a bit of saliva.

"Uh..sorry, I didn't see you." He apologized. The black hood didn't even respond to the apology, but instead turned and walked down the stairs that would lead to the Sandlot. Ikkxou sighed with relief and turned by around. "Gee, what was that all about?"

* * *

 ** _-Twilight Town: The Usual Spot-_**

The boy then walked into the Usual Spot, and saw Nero, Lena and Meru sitting around and enjoying some Sea-salt ice cream, a flavor of ice cream that was Ikkxou's favorite. Nero held a second bar of ice cream and held it out to Ikkxou, motioning to the boy to take it from him. Ikkxou nodded and thanked Nero just before taking the ice cream from his hand and getting in a small just before taking a seat on a crate next to the couch where the two girls where sitting. After a moment of silence, Meru sighed and asked everyone a question.

"Guys..do you think we'll always be together like this?" She asked, looking around the room.

Lena nodded sincerely. "I hope so."

Nero took a bite out of his ice cream and gave Meru an odd look, "Where the heck did that come from?"

Meru blushed, "Well..um..I..I was just thinking out loud." She sighed. Nero took another bite just before answering.

"Well, I doubt we can be together forever. But isn't that what growing up is all about?" He asked. "After all, what's important isn;t how often we see each other. But how often we think about each other, yeah?" Nero looked around for agreement.

Lena laughed, "Nero, where'd you get that off of, a fortune cookie?"

Ikkxou and Meru laughed at Lena's joke, making Nero glare at them all. "Tch, shut up! I was just answerin' Meru's question!" Nero slumped down. "Is it me, or is today turning out to be more boring than I had imagined?"

"Maybe it's because of yesterday's memory theif?" Lena suggested. Nero shook his head at her statement. "Nah, I know.."

"It's because we don't want summer vacation to end." Nero said. That was true. With the school year slowly approaching all of the kids that lived in Twilight Town, they all have become bummed out and having to cope with the fact that summer was coming to a close. Nero jumped up, a schemish look on his face.

"Let's go to the beach!" Nero smiled. "Why go to the beach? Because we haven't even gone yet this summer! I wanna see the wide open sea, and clear blue skies! Let's just get on a train and go!"

Nero was too excited about the thoughts of the beach, that he though people would be with him on it. He turned around to see them all happliy agree, but he was met with three worried faces. Nero's smile drooped into a frown. "No? Aww, what the hell!"

Ikkxou folded his arms, "In case you forgot, we're uh..pretty broke, dude."

Nero laughed. "Ikky, my boy. Have you forgotten that I have a pretty good plan up my sleeve. We're getting the money for this trip, and we're going today!"

"Follow me!" Nero ordered, taking off into the alleyways with Meru and Lena following him. Ikkxou rolled his eyes and ran after them.

* * *

 ** _-Twilight Town: Market Street-_**

Market Street was filled with people walking to where ever they were trying to go. The streets were a lot more lively than they've had ever been before. As the four were walking passed a flyer for the upcoming Struggle tournament, Nero just had to stop them to announce something. "Now, ladies and...gent." Nero started. "In just two days time, the Struggle tournament will be here." He put his arm around Ikkxou's shoulder. "You and I have got to make the finals, so that way, no matter who wins we will all split the prize four ways."

Ikkxou laughed and released Nero's grip on him. "Okay, you've got it."

Lena smiled, "You boys are surely gonna clean up at the tournament."

Nero held his hand out to Ikkxou, "Shake on it."

Ikkxou nodded and firmly shook Nero's hand. "Alright, now let's get down to business."

"One ticket to the beach is 900 munny. How much for four of us?" Nero asked.

Lena rubbed her chin, "About..3600 munny."

"Oh, and 300 munny to spend at the beach!" Meru added. "But what's that all for us?"

Ikkxou spoke up. "1200 munny. A total of 4800 munny." Now that he thought of it, that would be a _lot_ of munny. This trip to the beach is definetely going to be an expensive one by far. "But what are we gonna spend it on anyways?"

"Snacks, like pretzels. Anything else I'm missin'?" Nero shrugged.

"Watermelon?" Ikkxou suggested. Nero cringed. "Waaay too pricey. Those things are 2000 munny apiece."

Ikkxou shrugged. "Pretzels it is, I guess."

Lena snapped her fingers multiple times, "Hello, hello. We need to get back into the game here. Let's not think about snacks right now. How are we gonna get the munny for all a' this?"

"I mean, we all need about 4800, right? What do we have to start with?" She looked around.

Meru held out her pocket book. "I've got 800.

Lena sighed. "I think I have about 650.."

Ikkxou pulled some munny out of this pocket. "150..i'm broke.."

Nero counted with his fingers. "Alright, we've got 1600 munny already. It's a start, all we need know is another 3200!" Nero rubbed his hands together. "Now, let's split up and find ourselves some odd jobs and earn yourselves some dough."

"We've got until the train leaves to earn 800 munny each. We'll meet up in front of the station when we're done."

Ikkxou nodded. "Sounds good to me, let's do it."

The four then split up into town to find theirselves some jobs so that they could earn munny for the beach. But...who knew Twilight Town had so many "odd" jobs.

* * *

 ** _-Mail Delivery...on a skateboard?-_**

Ikkxou zipped through the streets on a skateboard, holding on to the slingbag full of mail. He's had practice with a skateboard before, but who knew he would have to use it as his main transportation to deliver letters to people. Not to mention that since the streets were busy today, he had to weave and maneuver himself out of the way of the people walking by, so that he would hurt himself and anyone else. Burning through is bag of mail in nearly on hour, he only had six letters to deliver. And they all were on the same street. He decided to spice up his skating and delivered the remaining letters while doing a few flashy tricks on his skateboard.

He returned to the Postal Office with the empty sling bag. The Postman gave the boy a nod.

"I heard from some of the people that you did a few flashy tricks on that board of yours."

Ikkxou blushed in embarrassment. "Uhh.."

The man smiled at him. "You get a bonus. We need more lively workers like you around here." He handed Ikkxou an envelope, with the amount of "250 munny" written on the front. Ikkxou smiled brightly.

"Thanks!" He shouted, running out of the office with joy.

* * *

 ** _-Putting on a show for the townspeople-_**

The area around the Sandlot was crowded, and in the center stood Nero and a charged at a ball with his Struggle bat in hand, he swung in an upward motion and knocked the ball into the air. "Let's go!" He knelt down and leaped as high as he could into the air and swung his bat around in hopes of getting a combo on the ball. Miss..Miss..MISS?!

"The hell?!" Nero exclaimed. The ball fell back down to the earth, along with Nero himself. His back met with the concrete, pain jolting through his spine as he had failed to keep the ball into the air. The people around him exclaimed in disappointment, demanding that he do his job right. Nero huffed. "Aw screw all of yous! You wanna try this, huh?"

He spit to the ground and cursed under his breath. "For the money, dammit.."

He gripped his Struggle bat tighter, and ran towards the ball again. "FOR THE BEACH!"

* * *

 ** _-Cargo Climbing-_**

Lena stood next to one of the shopkeepers who needed help bringing up this large bag of cargo inside of a cart. She gulped nervously.

"Thanks, Lena. I've been tryin' to lug this heap of cargo up this garage for almost an hour now. Good thing you were the only person to take up this offer." He said, patting her on the shoulder.

"Y-yeah..no problem.." She nodded. The shopkeeper then left her to do her job, which was a tough one. It seemed like no matter how hard she pushed that cart full of cargo, it wouldn't budge for nothing in the world. Lena tried jumping on it, running into it, punching it, kicking it. After many tries after it felt like hours later, it left her feeling sweaty and hot. "ARRGH!"

"Stupid.." She growled lowly. Lena got a nice grip on her cart. Using all of the might possible, she pushed and pushed. Before she knew it, the heat of the sun had been replaced by the cold feeling of the inside of a garage. Lena stood up and backed out of the garage, shocked to see that she actually did it. The shopkeeper from earlier approached her with an envelope in hand.

"Wow, Lena. Didn't know you were so strong for a girl your age." He complimented. "Please, take this." He handed her the envelope with 250 munny inside of it and walked away. Lena sighed and fell to the ground in exhaustion.

* * *

 ** _-Bumble Buster-_**

Meru's knees shook with fear as swarms of bees zipped and flew around her and a female shopkeeper. "Ugh, thank goodness. Meru honey, please be a dear and take care of this damn bees. They've been buggin' me all of summer and I've had it up to here with them." She explained. Meru gripped her Struggle bat tightly, "Y-Yes ma'am."

The bees were a rowdy bunch, simply mischievous and unruly. Meru, despite her fear of bees, took the job so that her and the others could go the beach and have fun. She felt a sharp prick in her arm, and looked to see if one of the bees had stung her. "Gwaaah!" She closed her eyes and started to blindly swing away at the bees swarming around her. Meru could hear her bat whacking away at the bees, her arm stinging with pain. After a while, she scared them away. The lady shopkeeper came back and praised Meru. "Good job, sweetie. Aw, seems like those little things gotcha. Well after I patch you up, I hand you your 250 munny and that will be that, okay?"

Meru blushed and smiled. "Okay!"

* * *

 ** _-?: Computer Room-_**

DiZ and the hooded man were talking, conversing about Ikkxou and his friends attempts to raise munny to go to the beach. DiZ was quickly typing away on the keyboard, making the hooded man look at the screens to see what was going on. Images of the beach and everything else related to it was being deleted.

"What's going on?" The hooded man asked. "What's happening to the beach you programmed?"

DiZ's voice was stained with anger as he typed away. "Don't be foolish, I can't keep this beach programmed in here, we'd be giving them another entry point. And besides, we can't let Ikkxou leave town." He explained. "Look, don't invest your emotions into 'that'. And don't lose sight of the objective either."

The hooded man nodded. DiZ shooed him away. "Now go take care of it."

* * *

 ** _-Twilight Town: Sunset Station-_**

Ikkxou, Lena and Meru all met up before heading to the station to add up their munny inside of a pouch. Nero waited on the wall, nodding as they appraoched him. "'Sup.."

"Got your munny with you?" Lena asked. Nero nodded and put his munny inside of Lena's pouch. She smiled. "Alright gang, added to what we started with, along with some bonuses we recieves from our odd jobs. We've now got about 5000 munny."

"This thing is damn heavy too!" Lena laughed. Nero exclaimed happily, "Hell yeah! C'mon lemme just feel the weight of it!"

"Uh..no." Lena rolled her eyes. She turned to Ikkxou and handed him the pouch of munny. "Make sure Nero doesn't take this." Ikkxou nodded. The sound of the train approaching the station was heard. "The train's coming. Let's go grab out tickets and get aboard."

The four of them ran to get into the station, but when Ikkxou started running he had tripped over something and fell straight to the ground. He skinned his elbow against the concrete and he might have also skinned his knee a bit as well. "Ahh! Crap!"

Ikkxou sat up and got ready to stand, just until someone pulled him up to his feet for him. It was man in the black coat. He tightened his grip on Ikkxou and fixed his mouth to say something.

"Hey! Back off!" Ikkxou exclaimed.

"Can you feel, Kioku?" The hooded man asked. Ikkxou raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

Was he talking about the Kioku kid from his dreams. How did he know about him? Just as Ikkxou was about to say something back, the voice of his friends snapped him out of it.

"Ikkxou! Who are you talking to, man?!" Nero yelled out. Ikkxou pointed next to him, but the hooded man was gone in a blink of an eye. "Dude! Let's go, we didn't raise this money for nothing."

"O-Oh.. okay!" Ikkxou nodded. He ran to catch up with them and they all walked into the station. Nero walked up to the front desk and asked for four tickets for the train ride to the beach. He then turned to Ikkxou for the money. "Yo, the money."

Ikkxou patted his pockets for the pouch, but he came to a realization that it was gone. But how? He double checked, patting each one of his pockets again and again. "It's not here!"

"What?!" Nero exclaimed. Ikkxou thought about the guy in black. He must've take it from him. "Hold on, I'll go look!" He burst out of the station and looked around for him. He was just here a second ago, how the heck did he manage to swiftly steal the money from Ikkxou and disappear without a single trace? The others had come out of the station and witnessed Ikkxou looked around the front of the station. He then turned to Nero and the others. "It was him!"

Lena and Meru looked at each other in confusion. "'Him'?"

"You clumsy idiot, you sure you didn't fall down by yourself and lose it?" Nero sighed in an annoyed tone. Ikkxou wanted to ask them if they saw the man in black pick him up and ask him something, but as this point it was too late. The horns of the trains sounded, meaning that it was leaving town. Meru sighed was disappointment, "Guess we won't be going to the beach."

Ikkxou felt guilty, and felt like it was mostly his fault for them missing their chance. Nero shrugged it off, "Well, let's just go get some ice cream and sit on the clocktower."

* * *

 _-Twilight Town: Clocktower-_

Everyone sat on the clocktower with seasalt ice cream in their hands. Everyone else was eating, except for Ikkxou, who was still stuck on the incident from earlier. His ice cream became drippy, slowly melting away. Meru looked over at him, "Ikkxou, your ice cream is melting."

Ikkxou sighed, "Guys..I'm sorry.."

Nero rolled his eyes, "Look bro, don't be so hung up on that. There's always next summer."

"But that was strange, though. I won't lie." Lena added.

"You can say that again.." Meru sighed.

Ikkxou took a bite out of his ice cream, he thought about the words the guy in the black hood said to him. "Can you feel, Kioku?"

* * *

 _Ikkxou sat up and got ready to stand, just until someone pulled him up to his feet for him. It was man in the black coat. He tightened his grip on Ikkitxou and fixed his mouth to say something._

 _"Hey! Back off!" Ikkxou exclaimed._

 _"Can you feel, Kioku?" The hooded man asked. Ikkxou raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"_

 _ **RESTORATION AT: 28%**_

* * *

 _-?: Computer Room-_

"Is all this really necessary?" The hooded man asked, tossing the pouch of money up and down.

"It's about extermination!" DiZ replied.

"It's not just about keeping them away from the beach." The hooded man said. "What about the Syndicate XIII's activity?"

DiZ rested his hands on his keyboard. "They are quiet. Don't you see what's going on?"

"At any rate..we must hurry to Zafira." He stated.

* * *

 ** _-Somewhere in Twilight Town-_**

A girl with dark brown hair, wearing a black dress walked into a completely white room with a large pod sitting in the middle of it. Zafira slowly walked up towards it, rubbing her hand against the cold, glassy surface. Inside, she could see a boy. A boy whom had grown after a year of slumber. This was a boy who she once manipulated by the order of a group of people with malevolent intent. Still, she still found herself apologizing to this boy for doing that to him and his friends every time she comes to visit him. Along with another boy, who was just simply a copy of this boy's best friend.

Zafira smiled again, rubbing her hand against the glassy surface of the pod.


	5. Chapter 4: Remembering Yourself

_**Chapter 4: Remembering Yourself**_

 _"That weapon you hold, a Keyblade?" She asked. "It's a truly remarkable weapon, but as the keybearer it is said that you're not to meddle in the affairs of other worlds." Eureka said._

 _Kioku folded his arms stubbornly at the girl's words._

 _"Even though the Keyblade is weapon of awesome power and magic. It brings ruin and shatters peace, at least that's what I've heard." She explained._

 _Lucina walked over to Kioku. "Good luck on your journey."_

 _"Yeah, we'll be rooting for you guys." Robin said, both Jenny and Nora nodding in agreement._

 _"And come back and visit sometime. We'll always be holding matches, so feel free to drop by." Jenny said._

 _Alex paused and looked down, her cheeks glowing red. "Um.."_

 _"What is it?" Kioku asked._

 _"Kioku, do you.." Alex started, her face glowing gold. "Do you think we'll ever see each other again?"_

 _Kioku's face flushed red. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Um..well. I can't say. I still have to look for my friend, Tai_. And Spongebob and Patrick have to look for-" Kioku went on._

 _Alex giggled and kissed Kioku on his cheek, making him flinch. Kioku looked at Alex in shock._

 _"Huh?" Kioku felt his cheek._

 _"Well, I hope we do meet again."_

 _"By night one way, by day the other." Fiona backed away towards the window._

 _"I wanted to show you, Shrek."_

 _Fiona smiled as light and clouds had began to cover her, and change her form. In a flash of light, Fiona had been changed back into her Ogre form. The whole church recoiled in disgust._

 _Shrek chuckled. "Well, uh, that explains a lot."_

 _Farquaad exclaimed. "Eugh! It's disgusting! Guards, I order you to get them. Get them all out of my sight." Countless knights then came in and attempted to apprehend Kioku and the others._

 _"No! Shrek!" Fiona cried._

 _"This marriage is cancelled and that makes me King!" Farquaad said, putting on a crown. Kioku summoned his Keyblade and knocked some of the guards away with it. Shrek growled and fought back alongside Kioku._

 _"And as for you, my queen!" Farquaad unsheathed a short blade and held it up to Fiona's neck. "I will have you locked up in that tower, for the rest of your days!"_

 _Kioku used his Keyblade to shoot a short blast of magic at Farquaad's hand, knocking the blade out of his hand._

 _"Gahh!" Faarquad exclaimed, rubbing his wrist in pain._

 _"But Kioku, I thought you liked games. Or are you too cool for 'em now that you have the Keyblade?"_

 _Kioku and the others turned around. "Yoru, what are you doing here?"_

 _"Just playing with CatDog." Yoru replied._

 _"You know what I mean. Where's Tai_, did you find her yet?" Kioku asked._

 _"I dunno," Yoru smirked. "Maybe if you catch us, I'll tell you everything I know."_

 _Kioku clenched his fists, "Bring it!"_

 _"We lifted the school into the air, saved the school from heart eating monsters," Ned said. He looked at Kioku, Spongebob and Patrick. "And it was all thanks to you guys."_

 _The three chuckled. "Eh, don't give us all the credit. We needed you guys to pull this off too!"_

 _"Without you all, the Atomic Flsh wouldn't have been carried out, and this world would be in darkness." Spongebob said. "Thank you!"_

 _Well, I'm off." Kioku said._

 _"Kioku, where are you going?" Emily asked._

 _"I'm going to find my friends, they're waiting for me." Kioku explained._

 _"Well, I wish you good luck Kioku!" Owl said._

 _"Be sure to come back to visit!" Hen said._

 _Kioku waved and jumped down. He started to walk across the log. A shooting star zipped across the sky._

 _"Look, a shooting star!" Duck shouted. "Make a wish! Make a wish!"_

 _"My wish," Little Bear started. "I wish Kioku would come back to visit some day!"_

 _Kioku looked around cautiously as Spongebob and Patrick disappeared when they landed. He then heard someone call out to him._

 _"I didn't think you'd come, Kioku." Yoru said, walking out on the deck to meet them._

 _"Yoru." Kioku said, turning to his friend. "How's it hangin'?"_

 _"Where are Spongebob and Patrick?" Kioku asked._

 _"Are they that important to you?" Yoru asked, "More important than old friends?"_

 _"Instead of asking about them, you should be asking.." Yoru moved out of the way, "About her."_

 _Kioku quickly lift the box up and it revealed a man on the inside. He was a gruff and tough looking man with a beard and headband. He wore a sleek and tight sneaking suit and looked like he had lots of gadgets. The man was surprised by Kioku, Spongebob and Patrick's appearance._

 _The man stood up, towering over the three with his height. "Who are you three?"_

 _"We should be asking you that!" Spongebob said, crossing his arms._

 _The man sighed gruffly. "The name's Snake."_

 _"That Yoru is a piece of work. He ran off with the girl and didn't even care to say goodbye." Ganondorf laughed._

 _"Run off where? Tell me, where did he go?!" Kioku shouted, pointing his Keyblade at them._

 _Plankton laughed. "To the ruins of Hollow Bastion, of course. Where Plasmius resides."_

 _"But unfortunately, you won't be going there." Ganondorf said darkly. The Heartless grew in numbers and surrounded the three._

 _"But, we'll spare your lives if you hand over the Keyblade." Ganondorf said. "We're merciful, unlike the Heartless."_

 _Kioku lowered his head and dropped to his knees. Spongebob and Patrick tried to talk some sense into him._

 _"Kioku! Stand up!" Patrick plead. "If you do this, you'll only be proving that they won."_

 _Kioku stayed quiet._

 _"Which will it be, Kioku? The Keyblade or your lives?"_

 _Ganondorf smiled with malevolence, until he heard the sounds of assault rifles clearing away the Heartless. Snake and Meryl flew in to rescue Kioku and the gang, via their own aircraft._

 _The two rolled on the ground as they landed. The Heartless charged at the two, but their bullets pierced the Heartless and ripped them to shreds. Kioku's eyes widen at the sight of them, he stood up happily._

 _"Snake! M-Meryl!" Kioku said, he said in shock. Snake and Meryl ran up to them._

 _"Kept you waiting, huh?" Snake winked and gave Kioku a thumbs up._

* * *

Ikkxou's eyes popped open just as the sunlight beamed onto his face. He extended his arms as he stretched and yawned right after it. He sat up, his golden blonde hair messy from his pillow. Ikkxou's mind was stuck on the new dream he just had.

"Just who is this Kioku kid?" Ikkxou muttered to himself as he rubbed his eyes. He pulled himself out of the bed and stumbled towards the bathroom. He was still half-asleep and was barely aware of his surroundings. Still, he thought about the dream he had just experienced. Kioku and two others fighting black creatures that goe by the name 'Heartless'. They seemed to have been traveling around, because they were in one place one second and another place the next. They faced a series of trials and made tons of friends while traveling. Not to mention that they fought tons of bad guys.

Ikkxou still wondered why he dreamt all of this, but like all of the other previous mornings he brushed it off and focused on trying to make summer vacation last until school starts back up. The blonde entered the darkned washroom and flicked on the light. But he saw something in the mirror that woke him up in the most odd but at the same time, frightening way. He saw..Kioku. Kioku was in the mirror, giving Ikkxou the same look the latter was giving him. Every move the blonde made, Kioku mimicked.

"Okay, joke's over." Ikkxou said to the mirror, the image of Kioku mouthing the words. With the quickness, Ikkxou turned on the water and bent over to wash his face with incredible haste. Once the boy's face was wet and dripping with water, Ikkxou looked up into the mirror again and he saw a reflexion of his healthy face. He exhaled with relief and grabbed a face cloth, drying his soaking wet face.

After Ikkxou got dressed, he returned to his bathroom to fix his hair up like he always did. He took a black hair tie and held in his mouth while he grabbed the back of his hair. He fixed his hair into a ponytail and grabbed both the black and white cross hair pins and placed them on each side of his hair. He looked into the mirror, staring himself in his crystal blue eyes. He watched a smile form on his face. "Let's make the last of this summer vacation a great one."

* * *

 _-Twilight Town: Usual Spot-_

Ikkxou walked into the Usual Spot expecting to see the rest of his friends greet him and let him join in on some ice cream, but instead all he got was a single piece of paper which sat on the couch.

 _"We're going to the beach today. Meet us at the station!_

 _\- Nero"_

Ikkxou sighed. "Guess today is the day, huh?"

He set the letter down and raced outside and started to race to the station. But as he was running to the station, two familiar voiced called out to him. "Ikkxou!"

Ikkxou skidded to a halt and turned around only to see Lena and Meru wave at him. "Oh, you guys!"

Both Lena and Meru were carrying bags, which Ikkxou assumed that were full of things beach-related.

"Hey, guess what?" Lena started.

"What's up?" Ikkxou asked.

Meru smiled. "Nero managed to get another 5000 munny from his dad, so we can go the beach today." She cheered. Ikkxou had already known about the second trip, but didn't want to kill the mood by just simply saying, _I already know_. So he pretended that he didn't know.

"Really! That's awesome!" Ikkxou cheered, faking a smile. "Hey, let's go to the-"

Ikkxou stopped mid-sentence as he noticed that his two friends had frozen in place. Not only that, but the people around them stopped walking, the birds in the sky, the surrounding conversations. It all stopped, frozen in time.

"Guys?" Ikkxou said, waving his hand in their faces. No response. Out of all the weird things that happened this week, ranging from the white creatures, to the Keyblade, to the guy in black, and the Kioku kid appearing in the mirror. This was a pretty scary moment for Ikkxou.

A soft and unfamiliar voice cut through the air, "Hello, Ikkxou."

Ikkxou spun around, and behind him was a girl with dark hair sporting a black dress. She wore a calm expression, even though Ikkxou was freaked out at the moment. The sound of her partly clothed feet lightly smacked against the concrete floor at she walked towards the boy. After taking in her appearance, Ikkxou was finally able to form words. "Who..are you?" He asked.

She never said her name, all she said was this. "Come to the Phantom Mansion. I'll tell you everything you wish to know."

Before Ikkxou could ask any other questions, the girl in the black dress had already left the area. Then in the blink of an eye, time resumed.

"Before we can go to the station, we gotta go pick some more things up." Lena explained. "Wanna come with?"

Ikkxou was dumbfounded, "Huh?!"

The two girls looked at each other and then returned their eyes back to Ikkxou. "What's wrong?"

"You two didn't see a girl in black dress just now?" Ikkxou asked, looking all directions. The boy looked like a madman trying to look around for the girl that clearly no one else saw except for him.

"Lena? Is Ikky-" Meru started.

"Ugh..he's stallin'" Lena rolled her eyes. " _Fine_. We'll see ya at the station."

The two girls then walked off, leaving Ikkxou who was still trying to search for the girl in black. He then remembered. "Phantom Mansion? Was she talkin' about the old mansion?"

* * *

Making haste, Ikkxou grabbed his board and quickly took off towards the woods. Ikkxou pushed his back foot, making the skateboard zip through the streets. Up ahead, he could see the girl in black walking slowly towards the large hole in the wall which lead to the woods. Ikkxou tried to make himself go faster in order to catch up, but when he got to where she was suppose to be, she was gone. Ikkxou pushed down on the back of the board, making himself come to a skidding stop in front of the large hole in the wall. The hell? Where'd she run off to? Ikkxou kicked up his board and grabbed it as he ventured into the woods.

Ikkxou leisurely walked into the dark woods, looking around to see if the girl in black was hiding behind one of the trees. She seemed like she had a playful personality, Ikkxou would assume. A short burst of wind blew passed him and he looked forward only to see a large black portal being opened up. Out from it, those white creatures flew and fluttered eerily towards Ikkxou. One of them grabbed his hand and tried to pull him towards the portal.

"Let me go!" Ikkxou shouted. He snatched his hand away from the monster, dropped his skateboard and ran in the opposite direction. The white creatures chased after him, tailing him all the way to the sandlot.

Ikkxou pumped his arms, running as fast as he could to avoid being captured by those..things. He decided to head towards the sandlot in hopes of someone being there so that they could help in out with the things chasing him. Once he got there, his stomach dropped as he saw Groose and his gang hanging around their usual spot on the sandlot.

 _'Maybe I can avoid these guys. It's bad enough that I already have one group of freakish looking creatures chasing after me.'_ Ikkxou thought. But then, he brought attention to himself as Groose and his gang turned their heads to see Ikkxou being chased by the white creatures.

"Hey! girly boy!" Groose shouted at Ikkxou.

 _'Forget that plan..'_ Ikkxou sighed. He changed his direction and headed towards Groose and his boys, who were looking at the white creatures gliding and swirling towards them all. "Gh-Hey, Groose!" Cawlin pointed at the creatures. Strich's mouth quivered in fear as the creatures surrounded them. Groose cracked his knuckles and got into a stance. "Causing trouble in our town, eh? We'll take care of you.."

Ikkxou looked around for any type of weapon, and to his surprise he saw a lone Struggle Bat lying on the ground. As one of the creatures launched towards him, Ikkxou quickly rolled out of the way and grabbed the bat. He took a deep breath and got into a stance.

* * *

 _ **(INFORMATION: Defeat the mysterious enemies!)**_

 _ **(Battle Theme: Sinister Sundown)**_

Ikkxou swatted away at the white creatures swirling around him. But just like before, his bat couldn't even land a single hit on them. He looked over and saw Groose and his boys trying to pummel the white creatures, in an attempt to protect their town. It was actually hysterical seeing them get mad because they too can't hit anything.

"Argh!" Groose yelled, "I can't hit these clowns!"

"Keep tryin' boss!" Cawlin yelled back.

Ikkxou only tired himself out trying to fight something hit couldn't even hit. He panted and tried to catch his breath, but he cluelessly left his guard down and one of the eerie monsters landed a blow right in the middle of his chest. "Ah!"

The hit knocked Ikkxou on his back, causing more pain to his spine as his back collided with the concrete. He flipped back up to his feet and looked at the creatures as they slowly apparoached him. _'Damn it. Now what?"_

Suddenly, time froze in place just like before. Groose, Cawlin, Strich..everything except those monsters. Ikkxou backed away, getting ready to run away until he heard that girl's voice again.

"Ikkxou! Use the Keyblade!" She said. Ikkxou looked around to find where the voice came from and he saw the girl in the black dress watching him from a rooftop. He wanted to wave, but another one of the monsters had flew towards him quicker than anything. He quickly braced himself and got ready to take another shot, but everything around him went white.

* * *

 _-Station of Serenity-_

 _ **(Field Theme: Dive in to Heart -Destati-)**_

When Ikkxou opened his eyes, he found himself standing on top of a platform constructed from stained glass. He looked down and saw the design of it. It was Kioku, holding his Keyblade with his eyes closed. Ikkxou looked around and saw three of the mysterious enemies floating around the platform, but didn't try to flutter over and attack.

Three items materialized around Ikkxou. A staff, a sword and a shield. He didn't know why, but he felt like the shield was the best choice for him. He took the shield, making the staff and the sword dissapear. As he was looking at the shield, it then transformed into the black and white Keyblade he once used before. "Huh."

Suddenly, the three stationary enemies had began to make their way onto the platform and close in on Ikkxou. "Now you want to fight?" He smirked.

Ikkxou twirled his Keyblade and got into a stance. "Let's do this!"

* * *

 _ **(Battle Theme: Fragments of Sorrow)**_

Ikkxou was relieved that he finally able to hit these annoying enemies. He flipped around to avoid their attacks and counters with more swings from his Keyblade, knocking them away. He dodged their attacks with average agility and managed to not get hit so far.

He clumsily missed his footing and fell on his back, causing one of the mysterious enemies to dash towards him. "Oh crap!"

He quickly jumped up to his feet and spun into the air with his Keyblade, slashing and defeating the last of them. He landed on his feet, panting. What a nice workout. Ikkxou looked over to the end of the platform and saw a tall, lavender colored door materialize from a bright light. He turned to it's direction, curious to see where it would lead to.

 _"Be careful."_

Ikkxou jumped as he heard a mysterious voice echo through the air. "W-Who's there?!"

 _"Beyond that door lies a completely different world."_

Ikkxou shrugged to himself and started to walk towards the door with his Keyblade in hand.

 _"But, don't be afraid. And don't stop walking."_

"Yeah, yeah. I hear you." Ikkxou sighed. He then approached the door and dismissed his Keyblade, grabbing onto both handles of the door before giving it a good tug. The doors felt heavier than they looked up, but Ikkxou managed to get them open. A bright light shined brightly on the other side of the door, making Ikkxou shield his eyes as he walked inside.

* * *

 _-Station of Calling-_

Arriving on the other side, Ikkxou took a look around. There was three different colored pillars, with a pathway made of stained glass leading up to the other ones. The blue one Ikkxou currently stood on, the green one was the second one and the red one was the last. He raced up to the next platform and immediately three of those mysterious enemies. Making quick work of them, he opened a chest behind them which contained a small jar of glowing green liquid.

"What the..hell?" Ikkxou said as he looked at the jar's contents. "Am I suppose to drink this?"

"Um..I guess." Ikkxou shrug it off and pocketed the Potion and moved on to the red platform. He saw yet another door waiting for him and he quickly picked up speed, but of course he wasn't going to reach the door that easily. An entire row of enemies appeared and blocked Ikkxou's path.

"Ugh! Just leave me alone!" He screamed. He whipped out his hand and called to his Keyblade. He slashed through a few of the creatures to lower them down to a small number. When he thought it was safe for him to leave, he took that chance and race towards the door. He pulled it out with all his might and ran in.

* * *

 _-Station of Awakening-_

After Ikkxou entered the door, he found himself on the same platform he was on before. The large, spacious blue platform that he was transported to. Still confused about where he was, Ikkxou slowly walked to the center on the platform, looking up into the void darkness of a sky. Soon, he felt a really strong presence coming from behind him. The feeling felt extremely sinister. He bit his lip and slowly turned around to see what was behind him. He gasped in shock as a huge a gargantuan enemy towered over him. It looked just like the regular ones but was even larger. There was no way Ikkxou could possible fight that thing. Turning the other way, Ikkxou quickly made a run for it to try and get away from it. But he couldn't because he had no where to run to. "Tch! Damn!"

Ikkxou turned around to face the giant monster, knowing he had no other choice but to fight. He summoned his Keyblade and nervously got into a stance.

 _ **(INFORMATION: Defeat the gigantic enemy!)**_

 _ **(Battle Theme: Twisting Nightmare)**_

Before Ikkxou could even move, a glowing ball of light with black and white thorns swirling around it appeared in the center of his chest. Thinking nothing of it, Ikkxou charged at the colossal enemy. He jumped at it with his Keyblade, but he was soon blinded by a bright light.

When the light was cleared, Ikkxou found himself hanging in the air by four white orbs holding his body. He struggle to free himself from the bonds. "What the..ugh!"

Then, the Twilight Thorn appeared in front of him and looked right into Ikkxou's face. It reached back and clenched it's fist, as it was about to strike. Ikkxou moved as much as he could and managed to free himself and air wisped passed him as it swung it's large fist. Dodging the attack, Ikkxou counters with a large blow from his Keyblade and knocked Twilight Thorn backwards. Quickly recovering, Twilight Thorn grabbed Ikkxou and tossed him into the air. "Whoaaa!"

Falling back to the ground, Ikkxou swiftly dodged another swing from the monster and slammed his Keyblade into it's head, knocking it down on the floor this time. It slithered it's way off the platform just as Ikkxou landed on the ground. Not letting his guard down, the boy looked around for the large enemy, not like he could miss it due to it's size. After a few seconds, he felt the ground from underneath him being tilted on it's side and he found himself falling somehow. He clung onto the edge of the platform using the Keyblade, exhaling in relief. He messed himself up by looking below, and there he saw Twilight Thorn holding a gigantic ball of energy with heaps of spiky looking tendrils swirling around it. "Oh..shi-"

Ikkxou lost his grip on the platform and he fell once again. The ball of energy looked closer and closer, and suddenly an image of Kioku tossing his Keyblade as a group of black creatures flashed in his mind. Ikkxou tightened his grip on the Keyblade, cocked back and threw his weapon with all his might. "GOTCHA!"

The Keyblade spun rapidly and collided with the giant ball, causing it to explode and knock both Ikkxou and the Twilight Thorn towards the Station of Awakening. They both landed on the platform, pain jolting throughout Ikkxou's body as he landed on his back, the Keyblade landing beside him as well. He looked up and saw the giant monster fading into a large pool of darkness that had began to engulf the entire ground under him. Panicking, Ikkxou was slowly being swallowed by the darkness. He flailed and waved his limbs, trying to escape his supposed fate. "No! Ngh..help!"

He reached out hoping that someone would save him from sinking in, and to his surprise a hand grabbed his arm and washed away all of the darkness around him, turning it to light.

* * *

 _-White Room-_

Ikkxou opened his eyes and was met with a blueish-white room. Standing in front of him was the girl in the black dress from before. Ikkxou was say something, but was silenced as the girl put a finger to her lips as signal to stay quiet.

She introduced herself. "My name is Zafira."

Zafira. What a nice name for a mysterious girl like her. Ikkxou nodded, letting her know that he understood. She went on.

"Ikkxou, do you remember your true name?" She asked. True name? How could he have a 'true name'? Ikkxou fit him just fine. The boy was about to answer until the mysterious man in the black hood pulled her away. "Not another word, Zafira.."

Zafira argued. "But..if no one tells him, Ikkxou will-"

"It's best that he doesn't know the truth." The hooded man said. Ikkxou gritted his teeth, remembering what that man did to him. He took the money that was going to be used for the beach.

"Hey you! You're that pickpocket!" Ikkxou called him out, pointing at him. "We didn't get to go to the beach because of you!"

The hooded man snapped his fingers and opened up a portal behind Ikkxou, making the boy gasp and turn around in shock. He backed away from it, afraid that the monsters from before were going to spew out from it. What exactly did she mean by Ikkxou's true name? What would even happen to him if no one tells him? Thoughts were racing in Ikkxou's mind and he needed an answer, he just wanted someone to tell him what was going on. He felt his hood being grabbed by a large hand and he was thrown into the portal by force. "Whaa!"

The portal closed, leaving the two of them in the room alone. Zafira pouted, "But..if no one tells him.."

The hooded man stopped her. "Like I said, it's best that he doesn't know anything right now."

Zafira lowered her pout and sighed sadly.

* * *

 _ **Side Note:**_ _ **Twisting Nightmare is mock Kingdom Hearts II track composed by GenesisKeys.**_

 _ **Twisting Nightmare will be used as a Boss Theme for certain battles in the story from here on out.**_


	6. Chapter 5: Struggle

_**Chapter 5: Struggle**_

* * *

"Pose for another one, Groose!"

"Awesome! Awesome!"

Ikkxou heard the voices of Groose and his boys cheering as he was coming to. He slowly opened his eyes and noticed that he was back at the Sandlot. He looked up and saw Strich taking pictures of Groose as he flexed his muscles as if he had just triumphed a great challenge. Ikkxou sat up and made a face. "What are you guys doing?"

The four looked at the downed boy. Groose chuckled. "Oh nothing, just taking a few pictures that'll make wonderful memories to look back at."

Cawlin ran over to Ikkxou and handed him a photo. After looking at it for no longer than five seconds, he realized that the picture was of him when he was knocked out. He rolled his eyes and ripped it up just before standing up to his feet.

"Anyways, what the heck were those monsters from earlier?" Groose interrogated. "They ran off like the cowards they were, afraid to face your's truly of course."

Ikkxou nodded. "I wouldn't mind knowing either." After all, Ikkxou didn't even get to hear what Zafira had to tell him. What would happen to Ikkxou if Zafira didn't tell him something. And who the heck is that tall guy in the black coat. Ikkxou was completely lost in thought, trying to figure things out. Before he knew it, he looked up and saw Nero, Lena and Meru staying way over by the stairs, giving Ikkxou a grim look. Nero looked incredibly angry and ended up being the first one to storm up the stairs, followed by Lena and Meru.

"W-Wait! Guys!" Ikkxou shouted as he chased after them. He seriously hoped they didn't think he was hanging with Groose's gang. Ikkxou burst into the Usual Spot and he saw his friends all turn to face him with uncomfortable looks. Nero was the most bothered by Ikkxou's presence and didn't even want to speak to him. Meru quickly looked at the Nero and Lena just before fixing her eyes on Ikkxou.

"You were hanging with Groose and his gang, weren't you?" She asked. Ikkxou scoffed and shook his head. "No way.."

Nero snickered, not in amusement, but in disbelief. Ikkxou continued.

"I just ran into them, that's all!" He chuckled nervously. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Ikkxou casually took a seat next to Meru, who had made room for him on the couch. He noticed that they had supplies for the beach and had wondered if they had gone on the trip.

"Say, did you guys go to the beach?" Ikkxou asked. "How'd it go?"

Meru lowered her head. "Yeah, but it wasn't the four of us."

Lena butted in. "It didn't feel the same, y'know?"

Nero hadn't looked in Ikkxou's direction, but he retained an angry look on his face that made Ikkxou feel a great deal of guilt. He knew he needed to make this up to them somehow. The clock was ticking, and summer definitely slipping away quickly.

"Why don't we go to the beach tomorrow. Together this time?" Ikkxou blurted out. His suggestion made all of them, including Nero, look at him with a glimmer of hope.

"Tomorrow?" Lena and Meru said in unison. Ikkxou nodded. "Yeah, we can get pretzels and everything!

Nero shook his head. "Nah, we made a promise tomorrow.."

Ikkxou's expression dropped. "Huh..what.."

Sudden thoughts started to rapidly rush through Ikkxou's head. The memory of him acquiring the Keyblade and fighting those monster all the way to him meeting with Zafira all looped through his mind over and over. Ikkxou gripped his head in pain.

Meru adjusted herself, "Ikkxou, you okay?"

"I gotta go home.." Ikkxou stated, cutting her off as he made a dash out into the alleyway. He ran as fast as he could into the streets until he had to catch his breath. He slowed down and suddenly found himself in front of a poster advertising the upcoming Struggle tourney. He then remembered the promise him and Nero made.

"In just two days time, the Struggle tournament will be here." He put his arm around Ikkxou's shoulder. "You and I have got to make the finals, so that way, no matter who wins we will all split the prize four ways."

 _Ikkxou laughed and released Nero's grip on him. "Okay, you've got it."_

 _Lena smiled, "You boys are surely gonna clean up at the tournament."_

 _Nero held his hand out to Ikkxou, "Shake on it."_

 _Ikkxou nodded and firmly shook Nero's hand._

"It was tomorrow.." Ikkxou muttered to himself. He lightly banged his head against the wall, "I feel like a total fool..."

* * *

 _-?: Computer Room-_

The hooded man and DiZ were having a discussion about Zafira and her actions thus far. DiZ, was rather annoyed by the girl.

"I tell ya, Zafira is one hardheaded, self pretensious-" The hooded man started, he was then interrupted by the bang DiZ had caused after slamming his fist into one of the monitors.

"Jeez, hey! Calm down!" The hooded man yelled. DiZ turned around and gave him a glare.

"Now I threw the kid out before he could hear anything she had to say." He continued.

DiZ exhaled. "It's fine."

"Even if she did reveal something to the boy, Zafira did nothing more than carry out her part." DiZ said, looking at the monitors. "Ikkxou's fate will remain the same, even if he heard it. No matter where he goes, he cannot escape."

* * *

 _-The Next Day: The Struggle Tourney-_

The very next day was the Struggle Tournament. Everyone in town had gathered in the Sandlot to see the town's greatest strugglers compete in this annual tournament. Ikkxou, Nero, Groose and Skully were lined up next to each other as they heard the announcer speaking to everyone through his megaphone. The four of them had battled their way through the preliminaries and now they've reached the finals.

" _ **LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, COMBATANTS OF TWILIGHT TOWN, THIS YEAR BRINGS YET ANOTHER SUMMER OF INTENSE FIGHTING!"**_ The man screamed.

 _ **"Who will win this summer's Struggle Tournament finals?"**_

The announcer turned to the four's attention. _**"Here on this stage, I give you the four contestants who fought their way through the prelims to stand here in the finals!"**_

After that, the crowd roared in applause, making Ikkxou feel a bit nervous. Through the midst of the applause, he could hear both Lena and Meru shouting and cheering for both Ikkxou and Nero. While Strich and Cawlin were cheering for Groose..of course."

 _ **"Who ever manages to win will not only get a trophy, but will also get to have a match with the Struggle champion, Marth!"**_

Standing behind the announcer was a blue haired pretty boy who for some reason..wore a cape? The crowd clapped for him, and it seemed like he was popular with the ladies as Ikkxou had heard girls screaming Marth's name. After the announcer rambled on for a while, Ikkxou and Nero were the first two to battle each other. The ring was cleared for the two and they both were handed a Struggle bat. They also had to put on a large vest which had multiple balls attached to it. Ikkxou looked at Nero and saw that he had a serious look on his face and wasn't intending to play around. The referee explained the rules.

"Whoever manages to get the most balls within the time limit wins." He said. "Now, you boys ready?"

 _ **"THE LONG AWAITED MATCH! IKKXOU VS. NERO!"**_

 _ **"These two are very close friends, will this battle make a few cracks in their solid friendship?"**_

 _ **"STRUGGLE!"**_

* * *

 _ **(Battle Music: Sinister Sundown)**_

Nero got in a stance, ready to pounce at Ikkxou whenever he got the chance, but Ikkxou didn't even budge. Time ticked by and the crowd was getting restless.

"Hey! What are you waiting for, do you even have any fight in you?" Nero barked. Ikkxou lowered his gaze. "Sorry."

Ikkxou shrugged, still thinking about the incident from the day before. "Look, yesterday..I.."

He was then cut off as Nero smacked Ikkxou directly in the face with his bat, making the boy fall over. Ikkxou shook his head and looked at Nero in shock. He could hear the announcer yell out in hype. _**"OH MY GOD! NERO JUST GOT THE FIRST ATTACK ON HIS OWN BEST FRIEND!"**_

Nero smirked. "Yesterday? I forgot all about that. Man, why are you always like that?"

"You're supposed to get hyped up for the match!" Nero yelled as he charged towards Ikkxou. Ikkxou blocked Nero's attack and shoved him away, taking a few swipes at him as well.

"You're not angry? Not even a little bit? Tch, you got to be!" Nero spun his bat, shaking his head. He was right, Ikkxou was feeling pretty annoyed about the events that took place over the last few days. The Zafira girl has to know something. He didn't know who she was or where she came from, but she knows something about what's going on. He wanted to know so badly, he was so close to finding out. Ikkxou just wished she had told him something.

"Because you never say a damn thing!" Nero leap towards Ikkxou and smacked his in the chest with his bat. Ikkxou spun towards the ground, the orbs from his vest spewing all about the ring. He looked up at Nero as he approached him.

"Because they didn't know you were seriously angry or if something bad had happened." Nero said, referring to Lena and Meru. "Yeah, those two were worried as well."

"Do we really have to rely on you that much, dude?" Nero shook his head. Ikkxou smirked and spun back up to his feet and retaliated with a large swing, knocking him backwards with the balls from his vest flying everywhere.

Just as Ikkxou was about to run at Nero, the announce had declared that time was up.

 _ **"TIME'S UP! HOW MANY BALLS DOES OUR CONTESTANTS HAVE EACH?"**_

Ikkxou walked over to Nero, who was still down and had no balls on his vest. "You all right?"

Nero shook his head and sat up, "You still have..."

"Yeah." Ikkxou nodded.

 _ **"AND THE WINNER IS IKKXOU!"**_

"Ahh, dammit." Nero sighed. Ikkxou held out his hand to him, offering him help.

"We made a promise remember?" Ikkxou smiled. Nero laughed and nodded, taking Ikkxou's hand and lifting himself up to his feet. The two walked off out of the ring and Groose and Skully walked into the ring.

Something looked a bit off for Skully. He had a certain aura surrounding him. An aura that wasn't either light or darkness but more in between, not only that but he had black and white ethereal thorns slowly spiraling around him. Groose took his Struggle bat into his hand and got into a stance. Skully tightened his grip on his bat.

 _ **"THE NEXT MATCH...SKULLY VS. GROOSE!"**_

"Ikk..xou.." Skully muttered under his breath.


	7. Chapter 6: The Thirteenth

_**Chapter 6: The Thirteenth**_

* * *

DiZ typed away on the keyboard, programming and monitoring the town to make sure Ikkxou couldn't find a way out of it. Aside from Ikkxou nearly learning of his fate, everything regarding keeping the boy inside of the town was going okay...sort of. They was still problems with the monsters that would appear around town, Nobodies. These monsters were signs of an intruder invading Twilight Town. And to DiZ's surprise, it was. A loud buzzer-like noise along with a pop-up on the screen reading, "LOST TARGET", appeared on the screen.

"An intruder," DiZ muttered. "She snuck into the program.."

With an irritated huff, DiZ tapped on the keys a bit harder as he had began to program something to intercept the intruder. "Don't think you can fool me so easily."

* * *

 _-Pod Room-_

Zafira entered the large pod room again, planning to meet with the sleeping boy. She was surprised to see the hooded man standing before the large pod in the center of the room. As she got closer to him, she noticed a few tears in his black coat. Almost as if it was the result from him fighting with something. "You're back?" She asked.

"Yeah.." The hooded man nodded.

"You're hurt.." Zafira said sofly, reaching out to touch one of the rips in his coat. The hooded man winced and stepped away. "It's just a scratch.."

"There's a bunch of Nobodies invading this town," The hooded man huffed. "We can't hesitate any longer.."

The two looked into the pod to see the sleeping boy's face, with his body gently floating inside of the pod.

* * *

 _-The Struggle Tourney-_

The crowd cheered as both Groose and Skully fought each other. They traded swings and block each others attacks, but surprisingly Groose was on the losing end. Skully was pummeling Groose as if he was just another adverage joe fighting in the tournament. That definitely didn't seem right since Groose pretty much trained nonstop for this tournament.

"Ahhhh!" Groose yelled as Skully had knocked him away with a strong swing from his bat, with the balls from his vest exploding everywhere. The stocky man fell to the ground in defeat and the crowd got even rowdier.

 _ **"OH MY GOSH! SKULLY STEPPED UP AND DEFEATED GROOSE, THE MOST ANTICIPATED FIGHTER IN THE TOURNAMENT!"**_ The announcer yelled.

Skully's mannerisms were nearly emotionless as always, but the aura around him was far too sinister. The stood perfectly still with his Struggle bat in his hand. "Heh..he.."

"Holy crap, Skully's got some moves." Nero comments as he had never seen Skully fight before. He punched Ikkxou in the shoulder. "Don't let that little squirt beat you, Ikkxou."

Ikkxou rubbed his shoulder, "All right, all right. I got it."

 _ **"WHAT A SHAME! GROOSE PLACED 3rd IN THE TOURNAMENT, BUT STILL GOT BEAT!"  
**_ The announcer blared.

Groose stood up and brushed himself off just before walking off of the stage. Nero laughed and taunted him as he walked by. "Great and powerful Groose just got his ass handed to him by the weird kid in the mask, eh?"

Groose's face burned red with embarrassment and he turned around, "Can it!"

Ikkxou became startled once Groose grabbed him by the shirt and whisked him away for a second. "What the...?"

Groose lowered his voice. "That kid ain't Skully..." His voice didn't have his usual snobbish tone, and was instead a very grim sounding one as if he was trying to warn him. Ikkxou raised an eyebrow, "Huh..?"

Groose shoved Ikkxou aside and continued to walk out of the Sandlot, followed by Strich and Cawlin. Ikkxou swallowed spit and looked over at that thing that was suppose to be Skully. The more he stared at him, the more uneasy he felt about him. Nero chuckled. "What's his problem, Groose seemed a bit freaked out didn't he?" Nero said as he took a bite out of his ice cream. "Guess he's not really used to losing, huh?"

Ikkxou nodded his head, not taking his eyes off of Skully. Nero shoved the boy lightly, "You'd better get up there, you got a match to win."

Without responding, Ikkxou slowly walked up to the stage and stood far away from Skully and tried to calm himself. Maybe Groose was just playing around, there's no way a kid like Skully could possible be that dangerous. The referee walked over to the both of them and handed the two their bats and walked back to the middle of the stage, then the announced shouted into his megaphone again.

 _ **"AND NOW, THE ONLY TWO FIGHTERS REMAINING IN THE FINALS...IKKXOU AND SKULLY! WHO WILL COME OUT ON TOP?!"**_

The referee made a gesture for the two to meet in the middle. While Ikkxou didn't want to, he sighed and trudged to the middle of the stage while Skully on the other hand, casually walked over to meet with him.

"Keep it clean, fellas." The referee said. After that he left the stage, leaving Ikkxou and Skully alone. The boy stared into the eyes of the thing that allegedly wasn't Skully, and and he saw his emotionless eyes darting right back at him.

* * *

 _ **(Battle Music: Sinister Sundown)**_

 _ **"AND THE BATTLE BEGI-"**_

Without warning, Skully quickly swung at Ikkxou and struck him right in the side of the head. Meru and Lena shouted in dismay.

"That meanie! He hit Ikkxou before the announcer could even finish!" Meru yelled.

Ikkxou stumbled backwards and got a glimpse of Skully chuckling, as if he enjoyed what he just did. "Hey, you son of a-", Again without warning Skully gave another giant swing at Ikkxou, this time Ikkxou was able to successfully block his attack.

 _ **"SKULLY STRIKES AGAIN, HIS MOVEMENTS ARE LIKE SOMETHING OUT OF THIS WORLD!"**_

The two pushed their strength against each other, and Ikkxou actually felt a sinister vibe flowing from Skully as he looked into his eyes. ' _No way..that's definitely not Skully.."_

"Heh..he..heh.." Skully laughed and he pushed against Ikkxou's weight, making the boy struggle to fend against him. "Damn it.."

"IKKXOU!" Nero yelled out from the sideline. "FOCUS!"

Ikkxou gritted his teeth as he was nearly straining himself. Something inside of Ikkxou had then snapped and he heaved his head back and slammed it right into Skully's forehead, making the boy stumble backwards. Nero had then cheered, "Yeah! That's my boy!"

Ikkxou gripped his bat tighter as he glared at Skully. He noticed the large crack in Skully's mask just after he had hit him. Skully was still staggered from the attack, which was an opportunity for Ikkxou to strike once again. He readied himself and ran towards Skully and raised his bat into the air. "HAAA!" Ikkxou wound up his bat and struck Skully in the face with his bat and knocked him backwards. The boy however had quickly recovered and landed on his feet. But just as he did that, everything around the two had frozen just like before. It was like time itself had came to a halt.

Ikkxou looked around in confusion and soon turned to Skully's attention as he had heard him laughing once again. Ethereal thorns along with a dark aura had surrounded him and a portal emitted from where Skully was standing, and out came monsters Ikkxou was most familar with. The same white, eerily moving monsters from the other day came crawling from out of the portal. "What the hell?"

Ikkxou looked around the arena and said a bunch of binary numbers appearing on the buildings and on the ground, and everything had began to look digital and static-looking. A black portal opened up and stepping out from it was a hooded person, but they had the figure of a woman. "Hey Ikky.."

Ikkxou got into a stance with his bat and glared at the hooded figure. The hooded girl smiled, "We finally cross paths. What's up?"

She walked towards Ikkxou and took his head gear off, revealing his blonde hair. "Your hair, it's as pretty as it's always been." She said softly. Ikkxou blushed and stepped away from her. The girl went on, "I've been through a lot to come and see you. C'mon, your mannerisms are so dorky that it's like talking to someone I don't even know." She bickered.

Ikkxou scoffed. "Quit the games. Just who the hell are you?"

The hooded girl gasped, "Ikky..what are you talking about?" She took off her hood and and revealed her pretty face which was decorated with a little bit of face paint and her fiery teal hair which was styled in a ponytail. "It's me, Rembex."

Ikkxou tilted his head in confusion, "Who..?"

Rembex's expression dropped. Her lips quivering slightly and she looked away. "Guess those reports were true, huh?" She held out her hand and she materialized a weaponized electric guitar from a flash of flames. "I ain't got no other choice, then." She gripped her guitar and charged at Ikkxou, who was too shocked to move. Rembex swung at the boy, making him dodge her first attack. "Whoa!"

Rembex took another swing, with Ikkxou barely dodging the attack. The boy tossed the Struggle bat away and in a flash of light, his Keyblade heeded his call. "What?"

Rembex smirked and hopped backwards. She laughed. "Yes! Now the _real_ fun can begin!"

"Wait!" Ikkxou shouted. "Tell me what's going on!"

Rembex lowered her glare, "This town is his little creation. Sorry, but we ain't got time to play 21 questions." Her fingers rested on the strings of her guitar. "You're coming back with me whether you're conscious or not."

Ikkxou gritted his teeth in anger, as he was completely fed up with not having anything explained to him within the past few days. "What is going on?!" In a fit of anger, Ikkxou threw the Keyblade to the ground. But in only a matter of seconds, it teleported right back into his hand.

"Number 13. Ikkxou." Rembex stated. "The Keyblade's golden boy."

Ikkxou tightened his grip on the Keyblade. "All right. Have it your way!"

Rembex smiled. "Yeah..that's more like it.."

* * *

 _ **(INFORMATION: Defeat Rembex!)**_

 _ **(Battle Music: 13th Struggle)**_

Rembex's quick fingers played a few solos from her guitar and as a result, waves of flames came shooting towards Ikkxou quickly. The boy dodged out of the way of the fire and ran towards the girl, who was smiling as he quickly approached her. Ikkxou took a swing at Rembex and hit her in the side with the Keyblade, quickly following up with another attack. Rembex's guitar combusted into flames and she spun around, knocking Ikkxou backwards onto the ground. Quickly recovering, Ikkxou hopped up to his feet and dodged another swing from Rembex's guitar.

Rembex dashed towards Ikkxou and took another wild swing at Ikkxou with her guitar, with her attack being effectively blocked. She smiled. "You havin' fun, Ikkxou?"

"So enthusiastic!" She laughed as she forcefully shoved Ikkxou to the ground. Rembex spun her guitar and jammed the sharp end of it into the ground, only a few inches away from Ikkxou's face. She calmly got on top of Ikkxou and came face to face with him, making the boy feel flustered. Ikkxou grunted and swung at Rembex with his fist, only for it to be grabbed by her hand and forced down on the ground. He was now fully pinned and completely helpless against her..

"Ikky, come home.." Rembex pouted, her cheeks burning red. "Number XIII...the boy chosen by the Keyblade..."

Ikkxou grunted, struggling from underneath her. "I'm not him..."

"Oh?" Rembex smiled. "Then what were you just attacking me with?"

Her face got closer to Ikkxou's, he could feel her breath on his lips. "Well?"

Ikkxou shoved his foot into Rembex's chest and heaved her off of him. He flipped up to his feet and glared at her, trying to hide his blushing face.

Rembex landed on her feet with her guitar teleporting back to her hand. "What is that weapon you hold in your hand?" She asked, this time nearly shouting the question. Ikkxou gazed at the Keyblade in his hand, unable to answer it. "There's no point in staying here any longer.." Rembex said, walking towards Ikkxou.

"In this town, he-" She was then interrupted by the sound of a digitized portal opening. "Hm..had to rub it in, eh?"

Once the series of spiraling binary codes disappeared, in their place stood a man with a bandaged face. "Ikkxou..hurry and open your eyes. You must stop dreaming.."

Ikkxou gasped, a bead of sweat rolling down his face. "Dreaming?"

"No, Ikkxou! Don't listen to him!" Rembex shouted. She then grabbed his hand, "Come home with me!"

DiZ smirked. "You were in the midst of battle, were you not?"

"Aren't you going to finish it?"

"Shut the hell up!" Rembex shouted as she shot a wave of fire at DiZ. The fire was blocked by a digitized barrier that must've been programmed to withstand physical attacks. DiZ continued to speak to Ikkxou. "Ikkxou, you don't have to keep promises with old friends.."

A spiral of binary surrounded Ikkxou's Keyblade, and it was transformed back into his Struggle bat. Rembex herself also started to slowly disappear. "What..what the hell?!"

"Ikkxou!" Rembex shouted. "Remember who your _actual_ friends are! Don't listen to this guy!"

Just as Rembex was about to disappear completely, DiZ said something to her. "I won't hand over Ikkxou to the likes of the Syndicate XIII."

Soon enough, DiZ himself disappeared, leaving Ikkxou all by himself. He turned his head and looked at his three friends.

"Nero.."

"Lena.."

"...Meru.."

Ikkxou tightened his grip on his bat. ' _This has got to be a dream..I need to wake up!'_

He clenched his eyes shut and tilted his back and shouted their names as loud as he could, looking to wake up from this nightmare.

"NERO! LENA! MERU!"


	8. Chapter 7: Letter to the forgotten boy

_**Chapter 7: Letter to the boy I once knew**_

 _"In my dreams, I become a different person."_

 _ **The door has opened, Kioku." Yoru said, turning around. The look in his eyes was foreign. The calm and collected vibe was replaced by a cold and ruthless stare. His lips with curled into a smirk. "Now, we can go to the outside world!"**_

 _ **He stood up and ran out of the alleyway and into the town filled with people walking around and conversing with one another. A town where it was permanently daybreak. Kioku looked around in awe. "Holy...crap!"**_

 _ **"I'm in another world!" Kioku screamed.**_

 _"It's a world completely unrelated to me.."_

 _ **"They definetely will come at you out of nowhere." The man pointed a finger at Kioku's Keyblade. "But if you continue to use that Keyblade, they won't be that much of a problem.."**_

 _ **"Hey, why don't come with us? We can go to other worlds on our vessel!" Spongebob offered. Patrick nodded in agreement.**_

 _ **"The Heartless obey me now, Kioku. I don't have anything to fear." Yoru said, his voice sounded foreign to his friend. His voice sounded so dark and grim, as if the happy and witty Yoru Kioku once knew was killed off and replaced with an imposter.**_

 _ **"Are you dumb?!" Kioku shouted angrily. "The Heartless will swallow your heart sooner or later.**_

 _ **"NOT A CHANCE!" Yoru yelled in Kioku's face. "My heart's way too strong."**_

 _"I..don't know.."_

 _ **"Yoru" smirked. "I am Vlad Plasmius, Seeker of Darkness."**_

 _"I don't know.."_

 _ **'Taiyo's heart..is inside of me?!' Kioku said, mentally.**_

 _ **"You can forget it, Vlad! I ain't gonna give it to you!" Kioku shouted.**_

"I don't know."

 _ **"Ikkxou, do you remember your true name?" She asked.**_

 _ **"Ikky, come home.." Rembex pouted, her cheeks burning red. "Number XIII...the boy chosen by the Keyblade..."**_

 _"I'm dreaming..."_

 _"And I need to wake up already.."_

* * *

- _Back to Reality-_

"Ikkxou!"

"IKKXOU!"

Ikkxou felt himself being shaken at a rapid pace, and when he opened his eyes all of his friends, the Struggle announcer and the referee were gathered around him. In the referee's hand was a trophy, the one the winner of the tournament would get once they won the finals.

"Were you dreaming?" Nero asked Ikkxou, who was still looking like a deer in headlights. Ikkxou looked over at Skully, who was recovering from the heavy blow he received from him. But didn't he turn into a bunch of monsters and what not?

"Was I..really dreaming?" Ikkxou muttered to himself. His train of thought was derailed as Nero shoved the large trophy into his hands and nearly knocked him over. "Congratulations, champ!"

"You were great out there!" Meru smiled. Ikkxou nodded and the looked around the sandlot to see the crowd cheering and congratulating him on his win. But something he saw really freaked him out. Leaning against the wall, standing far away from the crowd was a figure dressed in a black coat, the hood shrouding their face. Ikkxou had hoped he wasn't still dreaming and was about to drop everything and run until his friends caught his attention.

"Hey," Nero shoved Ikkxou lightly. "What's gotten into you, man?" He then shoved Ikkxou's head gear on, "Go win the title match against Marth!"

Oh right, there was that title match against the boy with the blue hair. He quickly looked back over there to where the hooded figure was and...it was gone! Relief overcame Ikkxou, and he sighed calmly. "Good, nothing was there after all."

 **"Both fighters to the stage!"** The referee called out, referring to both Ikkxou and Marth.

"Good luck out there, Ikkxou!" Lena giggled as she playfully ruffled his hair affectionately.

Ikkxou smiled. "Thanks!" and he quickly walked up to the stage to meet with Marth. Marth's mannerisms were sort of girlish, but his personality was very manly in a way. He smirked at Ikkxou as he watched him walk up. The cheers from the girls in the stands were cheering his name and cooing at the sight of him.

Marth unsheated his Struggle bat as if it was a blade and pointed it at Ikkxou. He gave the boy before him a charismatic smile, "Greetings Ikkxou, I've seen your previous battles with Nero and Skully. And I must say, you're very skilled." Is he..complimenting him?

"Your fighting style is very unothrodox. Self-taught I would assume?" Marth questioned. Ikkxou rubbed the back of his head, not expecting Marth to take an interest in his fighting style of all things. He calmly answered with a nod, "Uh..yeah."

Marth chuckled. "Intriguing, I must say. Maybe we both can learn something from this fight, yeah?" The boy then got into a stance with his bat as he was ready to finally fight. Ikkxou lowered himself into a stance with his own bat.

"Don't let me down, Ikkxou!" Marth called out to him as the crowd had gotten louder.

"Same to you, Marth!" Ikkxou smirked.

 _ **"LET'S STRUGGLE!"**_

* * *

 _ **(Battle Theme: Together We Ride)**_

"Here I come!" Marth quickly dashed up to Ikkxou with impressive speed, making said boy flinch before he even got close to him. Marth swung his bat quickly and constructively, with Ikkxou trying to counter and find an opening to attack. He ended up being jabbed in the chest repeatedly from Marth's bat, and soon after he was bombarded with a flurry of attacks. The boy staggered backwards, he knew Marth was good..but he didn't know he was _this_ good.

The blue haired boy hopped backwards, not letting his guard down. He sighed with disappointment. "Ikkxou, is there something wrong? Why aren't you giving me your all?"

Ikkxou rubbed his chest, trying to relieve the stinging pains from Marth's attack. "Sorry," He chuckled. "I just haven't had the chance to get an opening!"

With swift movement, Ikkxou quickly dashed behind Marth and swung his bat multiple times and struck the boy severval times in the back. Marth was knocked foward and rolled to recovery. Marth stood up again and dashed at Ikkxou with a calm expression on his face. Ikkxou readied himself again and once Marth had gotten close, he swung downwards.

"Heh, nice try." Marth had parried the attack in a flash of light and quickly countered with a devestating slash that knocked Ikkxou to the ground. The boy quickly recovered and both he and Marth traded swings. The blue haired boy flipped backwards and dashed fowarded with a strong thrust attack, which caused him to knock Ikkxou's bat into the air. He quickly spun around and swung his bat horizontally, which made Ikkxou hop backwards to dodge it.

The Struggle bat came falling back to earth and luckily Ikkxou managed to catch it. "Nice try!" the boy mocked as he retaliated with a strong swat, which knocked Marth's bat out of bounds.

* * *

 _ **"BATTLE OVER!"**_

 _ **"IKKXOU IS THE WINNER!"**_

The crowd cheered as the battle concluded, resulting in Ikkxou being the victor. The referre walked onto the stage and handed Marth the championship belt. The boy nodded and held it out to Ikkxou.

"Here, you're the winner." He smiled.

Ikkxou was dumbfounded as first, but he chuckled and took the belt from Marth's hands. He was mostly surprised that he would have been able to defeat such a skilled fighter such as him.

"Until we meet again." Marth nodded honorably just before walking off the stage, with his small entourage following him. Nero, Meru and Lena all came running up to Ikkxou with huge smiles on their faces.

"That was awesome!" Nero commented happily. "You're the freakin' champ now, dude!"

Meru giggled, "You were so cool out there, Ikkxou!"

Lena chimed in, "Yeah man, you really cleaned up!"

Ikkxou felt satisfied that for a single moment, everything felt fine for once. Even though he just experienced a bad dream not even moments ago, he was relieved that he could enjoy one good moment. No monsters, or guys in black hoods. Just him and his friends smiling, being happy to be around one another.

* * *

 _-Twilight Town: Clock Tower-_

"Here, lemma put it on ya!" Lena said as she wrapped the large championship belt around Ikkxou's waist. She buckled the belt shut and snickered at the flustered boy as the other two laughed. "Looks pretty good on you, Ikkxou. Since you're the new champion and all!" Nero teased, with Meru laughing at Ikkxou as he was getting even more flustered.

Ikkxou rolled his eyes, "You guys are the worst." he said jokingly. He grabbed his trophy and started to pick off all of four different colored crystal orbs. Ikkxou kept the blue one, he tossed the green orb to Nero, the red one to Lena and the yellow one to Meru. He set the trophy behind him and held up the blue crystal orb to the sun, letting it sparkle in the sunlight. The others followed along with his actions, letting their orbs sparkle as well.

"Heh, our treasures are growin'." Nero commented, smiling at his sparkling crystal. Meru smiled and looked at Ikkxou. "And it's all thanks to Ikkxou."

Nero glared ar Meru and barked, "HEY! I tried my best too, didn't I?!"

Lena laughed at Nero's outburst, "Pshh, yeah in the first match that is!"

"Shut up, Lenny!" Nero shouted in anger, making Ikkxou and Meru laugh together in unison. Lena snickered and reached into her bag. Out from it, she pulled out four Sea Salt ice cream bars. "Enough banterin'. Let's enjoy some ice cream, yeah?"

After passing out the ice cream to each other, they all started eating. In the midst of eating, Ikkxou was still fascinated by how pretty his crystal orb looked when it sparkled in the sunlight. He lowered his ice cream and took his orb out of his pocket, holding it up to the sun again. Nero looked over at Ikkxou and noticed that ice cream was sliding off of his stick.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, trying to alert his friend. Soon, both Lena and Meru turned their attention to Ikkxou as well, both trying to warn him. "Ikkxou!"

Ikkxou quickly looked down and saw that his ice cream was nearly off of his stick and he hastily tried to catch it, but at the same time he was fumbling with his crystal orb as he didn't want that to fall too. "No! N-no!" Soon, he felt himself slip off of the edge of the clock tower and he heard the screams from his friends calling after him. "IKKXOU!"

Right at that moment, Ikkxou's mind went nearly blank. His vision became blurred and time around him felt completely slowed down, so after a while it felt like he was falling for nearly hours on end. Thoughts raced through his mind.

 _"It's so high up...am I gonna die?"_

 _"What should I do..I'm not even getting any closer to the ground.."_

For some reason, his mouth fixed to say the name, "Zafira.."

* * *

Somewhere else, A girl with brunette hair, wearing a yellow sweater with her school uniform quietly stared up into the evening sky. The girl felt as if someone had just called out to her, but it felt like it was from a far away place. Out of this world. Soon, the girl's trance was interrupted by someone calling her name, with quick footsteps approaching her.

"Taiyo, wait up!"

The girl turned around and saw another girl running to catch up with her. The girl's name was Malon, she was a red haired girl who had crystal blue eyes. She was one of Taiyo's classmates. Taiyo smiled and waved at Malon as she approached her.

"Wanna walk home together?" Malon asked with a warm smile on her face. Taiyo giggled and nodded. "Sure, why not?"

The two then walked started walking home together, taking in the sights of Tranquil County. Taiyo could hear the sound of the train chugged across the tracks, with steam blowing from the pipes. Soon, the two approached the old garage that sat in the outskirts of the town and not too far from it was a small beach with a large lake which seemed to go on and on.

"Wow, it sure had been a while since we hung out here, huh?" Malon commented, as she recounted memories of playing here. "This place and the hilltops, right?"

Taiyo nodded, her face projecting sadness as she thought about someone. Everytime she thought about him, she couldn't remember anything about him. All Taiyo could remember was that she played with him in the hilltops and in the treehouse. Malon noticed Taiyo's sadden look.

"Thinking about that boy again?" She asked with concern present in her voice, which earned her a nod from Taiyo.

"Those hilltops and these endless fields will always remind me of him." Taiyo responded. "And I don't want to go back there until I fully remember who he was.."

 _ **"Hey!" a voice said, accompanied by the sounds of grassy footsteps walking up hill. "You guys forgettin about someone?"**_

 _ **A boy with long, shaggy silver hair approached them, holding a large bookbag. He gave them a wave. "Am I the only one planning this trip?"**_

 _ **"Oh, hey Yoru." Taiyo waved.**_

 _ **Yoru slung the bookbag into _'s stomach, nearly knocking the wind out of him. "You're just as nearly as lazy as Mr. Snooze-A-Lot over here."**_

 _ **Taiyo moved some of her hair behind her ear, "So you noticed. Then let's hurry and get the boat ready. I'll race you."**_

 _ **"Y'know, I wonder if we'll actually find another world, at the end of the sea." _ gently touched the boat. "Wonder what it'll be like."**_

 _ **"Everything will be answered when we get there." Yoru answered. "We'll know what kind of world Taiyo came from, and why we're here."**_

 _ **"Plus, if Taiyo never came to our town, we wouldn't even had the idea that other worlds besides ours had existed." Yoru went on. "We would've been stuck here in this boring, unchanging place."**_

 _ **_ then looked over to Taiyo who was fiddling around with something. "What's that?"**_

 _ **Taiyo quickly jumped up and hid that something behind her back. "Nothing! Just making something," She thought about something and smiled, "Cool.."**_

 _ **She walked up to the boys and held out what looked like a necklace being made out of thalassa shells. "I'm making a good luck charm."**_

 _ **Taiyo's gaze fell back on the necklace. "Way back when, sailors would wear these and pray for a safe trip. Praying that no matter where they went, they'd come back some day."**_

 _ **_ nodded. "Then let's go! Let's go see the world, right?"**_

"Very strange.." Malon folded her arms in thought, "I can't seem to remember his face or name either.." The two continued walking, still taking about the boy. "Yeah, it's too bad."

"Was he even really there, I can't remember a thing!" Malon sighed. "Where the heck did Yoru run off to, it's like suddenly they never existed!" She shook her head. Taiyo was about to say something, but she suddenly felt her head pounding. She put a hand to her temple in pain.

"Taiyo? Is something wrong?" Malon questioned in concern.

Taiyo's head had began to hurt even more as she envision a boy falling from a clock tower. "Agh!" She lost consciousness and fell to the ground. Paul exclaimed loudly, "Taiyo!"

* * *

 _"Who are you?"_

 _"Who..are you?" Taiyo asked the voice._

 _"I'm Ikkxou."_

 _"Ikkxou. I'm Taiyo."_

 _"Taiyo? This is pretty weird, right?"_

 _The girl made a confused face, "Huh? I guess so...you're talking in my head."_

 _"I've seen you a lot in my dreams. You were planning to use a boat to sail off to different worlds with two other guys." Ikkxou explained._

 _Taiyo titled her head as she tried to remember. She gasped suddenly as the memories popped into her head. "You know about that?! What were their names?"_

 _"Um..Yoru."_

 _"And the other boy?" Taiyo shouted desperately. Suddenly another boy's voice spoke inside of her head. One with a familiar voice._

 _ **"Seriously, Taiyo? Have you really forgotten about me?!"**_

 _Taiyo's heart jumped at the sound of the voice._

 _ **"Here, I'll give you a hint."**_

 _ **"It starts with a 'K'!"**_

* * *

When Taiyo came back to her senses, she had a big smile on her face that made Malon worry a bit more. She stood up from the ground and brushed herself off.

"Taiyo, are you alright? You just blacked out!" Malon exclaimed again. Taiyo smiled, "I'm fine."

"Well, it's getting late so we should start walking home." Malon said as she grabbed onto Taiyo's hand, but then realized that she wouldn't budge. "No, I want to go to the beach. There's something I need to do."

The two quickly raced over to the beach, getting closer to the sea. Taiyo reached into ther bag and pulled out a letter in a glass bottle, with a cork sealing the bottle tight. She cocked back and threw the letter in the bottle into the sea, watching it float and slowly start to drift away.

"What was that?" Malon asked.

"A letter that I wrote yesterday." Taiyo answered as she watched the letter drift. "It expresses my feelings towards him, and it says that one day we'll meet again."

"You mean the boy with the name you can't remember?" Malon questioned again. "Do you think it'll reach him without a name or address?" Soon, the letter drifted far away and became no longer visible. Taiyo nodded at Malon, "I remembered his name, so I'm sure it will get to him."

"Right, Kioku?" She smiled.

* * *

 _ **Restoration at: 79%  
**_

* * *

DiZ sat calmly at the computer as he watched the single pod in the white room. "His progress is astounding."

The hooded man stood behind him, tossing a small, blue crystal orb up and down. He tossed it up for the last time and caught it in his hand. "What happened?"

"Zafira's encounter with Ikkxou put his heart in contact with Taiyo's. And that, in turn, affected Kioku...see?" DiZ explained with his voice sounding somewhat overjoyed while maintaining a serious tone. The hooded man put the crystal orb inside of the pouch and moved closer towards the computer. He nodded.

"Zafira..she's a wonder." The hooded man commented.

"She wasn't born like other Nobodies," DiZ stated, putting a hand to his chin. "She can interfere with the hearts and memories of Kioku and those aligned with him." He explained. The hooded man turned towards DiZ. "But whose Nobody is she?"

DiZ gave a sly smile, "I could tell you.." He looked up at the hooded man. "But perhaps you could tell me your true name?"

The hooded man shrugged and took his hood off. He revealed his pale green skin, his long black hair and goatee and red and black eyes. He gave a smile, "It's Vlad."

DiZ snickered slightly but soon after threw his head back in laughter. He collected himself and sighed. "It's an honor, Vlad."

* * *

Somewhere else, in a tall white room in some far away world, was a gathering between 7 people who all wore black coats. There was thirteen seats in the room which were elevated to certain heights. There was supposed to be thirteen of them, but five of them weren't among them anymore. And one of them still existed, but wasn't present. At the meeting, Rembex was arguing with the rest of the members about Ikkxou.

"Get rid of him?!" Rembex shouted out in both anger and shock. "Just hold on, he'll need just a little bit more time!" She slammed her fist on the arm of her chair. "It's an order," a hooded woman interjected. "Why do you hesitate, aren't you the one who always ruthless towards those who turn their backs on the Organization?"

Rembex groaned, "But it's not like that, he didn't betray us! He can't come back!"

Another hooded figure, who was a girl in her teens, sat lazily in her chair. She jumped into the conversation. "If he doesn't return, you gotta deal with 'im." The hooded teen snapped her fingers and materialized a long lance next to her. "Or we're gonna deal with you!" She then pointed towards Rembex and commanded the lance to fly towards her.

The lance impaled the back of the chair, which made Rembex aim a deadly glare at the girl. The hooded man who sat in the chair which was elevated the highest looked towards the hooded girl. "Number X..." He said in a low tone. The hooded teen sighed.

"Sorry superior," She apologized, dismissing the lance from Rembex's chair. The superior then emitted a large, crackling ball of light from his hand and aimed it towards Rembex. The light made her lower her glare and fold her arms. "Tch..so that's it? You're gonna turn me into a Dusk.."

The superior didn't say a word, only still aiming the ball of light at the girl. Rembex gritted her teeth and slammed her hand on the arm of her chair. "Alright, fine! I'll do it if that's want you dipsticks want!"


	9. Chapter 8: Proof of Existence

_**Chapter 8: Proof Of Existence**_

The loud ringing from the clock tower bell made Ikkxou quickly spring up from his bed in a cold sweat. He looked around frantically as he tried to figure out why he was in his house if he fell off of the clock tower yesterday. He remembered talking to some girl named Taiyo about his dreams from the previous nights, telling her about the two boys that was fixing up a boat to venture out to find other worlds. Ikkxou shrugged to himself and just came to the conclusion that if just might have been a dream. "I'm dreaming, but which parts were the dream?"

A vivid memory that Ikkxou remembered from yesterday was of him winning the Struggle tournament and becoming the new champion. He had gotten both a championship belt and a trophy that came with four different colored crystal orbs. "Oh yeah, that ball!" Ikkxou smiled to himself. He remembered how beautiful it looked when it would sparkle and glimmer when he would held it up to the sun. Since the sun was out, Ikkxou wanted to see it glimmer in the evening sun. He grabbed his pants from off of the floor and checked the pockets of them, but he quickly became a bit panicked when he realize something weird.

"What?" Ikkxou dug deep into the pockets of his pants again to try and find the crystal orb, but to no avail it wasn't there. "Ugh, don't tell me I lost it!" Ikkxou huffed as he tossed his pants aside and quickly rushed to tear his room apart to find the crystal orb. After about ten minutes of endless searching he sighed and sat back down on his bed. "That sucks!"

He looked over at his calender and noticed that it was nearly three more days until the end of summer. Ikkxou stood up and trudged to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

* * *

 ** _-Twilight Town: Usual Spot-_**

Everyone in the Usual Spot sat in silence. Nero, Meru and Ikkxou were bummed about it being only three days until school starts back up, but Lena on the other hand was being a bit strict about the summer assignment. She stood up and looked around the room sternly.

"Three more days of summer vacation!" Nero stated loudly. "Don't bother us about the friggin' homework.." He growled. "We need to be thinkin' about how to make the last of this summer worthwhile!"

"You guys can make it _worthwhile_ by doing the damn homework!" Lena countered as she darted a nasty glare at Nero, who flinched in response. Lena whipped around and walked over to Ikkxou. "Say Ikkxou, what do you think, we should be getting started on that homework?"

Ikkxou looked up, "Well, summer vacation is coming to a close. Might as well do it before it's too late." He shrugged. Nero hopped up from his seat. "Aww, a' course he'll agree."

"Beside, this man won the Struggle tournament yesterday." Nero paced around the room. "It's only natural that we let him bask in glory for a litle while." The boy reached into his pocket and pulled out his crystal orb, smiling as he gave it a stare. Lena groaned, "You stupid..."

Nero and Lena argued for a few minutes until Ikkxou stepped in between them. "Really, we should do the homework." He said in a serious tone. Lena's face lit up with joy while Nero's face dropped in sadness. "Yes! Ikkxou I friggin' love you!"

Nero groaned and slumped back down into his seat. "But I've got nothing for the research paper though,"

Meru chimed in, "There's a bunch of things!"

"Yeah, Meru's right!" Lena nodded in agreement. "Like what?!" Nero sighed.

"Black magic?" Meru smiled creepily, making Nero feel uncomfortable. "No thanks, I'll pass up that idea." He responded. Meru rubbed her chin, thinking about something else. She jumped up and pointed a finger. "Oh! How about the Haunted Mansion?"

Nero cheesed, "Aw, hell yeah!" He hopped up in excitement. "We could definitely catch us some ghosts for sure!" He walked up to Meru and ruffled her hair, "Nice thinkin', Meru!"

Meru's face briefly blushed light red, "Um..it's nothing really." She quickly moved away from Nero's hand, sighing afterwards. Ikkxou gulped at the thought of that mansion. The gates of the mansion was where he fought those Nobodies using the Keyblade, even at times he can still hear what one of the monsters said. ' _We have come for you, my liege'_. He wasn't sure about going back to visit it, but if it was to get Lena to pipe down about the homework he might as well just swallow his fear and get it over with. Ikkxou turned towards his friends, "Alright, let's head to the mansion and investigate for any ghosts." He announced.

"Like Meru said, this should be a useful topic for the project." Ikkxou gestured towards his friend. Nero smiled, "Yeah, let's go you guys!"

* * *

 _ **-Twilight Town: Mansion Gates-**_

The four of them made it to the gates of the mansion after walking through the woods. Before they got on the trolley, they all bought nets so that they can catch the 'ghosts'. Nero was one who was the most pumped up about the investigation. "All right, let's get in there and bust some ghosts!" Nero cheered as he pumped his net into the air.

" _If_ the rumors of the mansion are true, " Meru said as she pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. Nero smirked, "Yeah, dunno what you're talkin' about but either one sounds just fine!"

Lena took out her notepad and read off of the notes she took about the rumor. She squinted at the paper, "Ehh, says here that 'Though nobody lives in the house, the figure of a girl can be seen in the second floor window." Once Lena had read that, Ikkxou immediately thought about Zafira. He's been inside of the mansion before to talk to the girl.

Nero walked over to the gates, which were locked tight with a large padlock and tried to pull the gates open. But he couldn't do it. He then banged and kicked at the gates, "Crap! How exactly do we get these gates open?" The youth questioned as he examined the gates. Nero then started to climb up on the gates, which made Meru and Lena call after him.

"Be careful Nero!" Meru shouted.

Nero looked back and cheese, "Don't won't guys, I'm perfectly-" The gates had then lit up with electricity and zapped Nero, making the boy lose his grip and fall back to the ground rather quickly. Soon after that, Ikkxou's vision became hazy and his hearing had started to fade in and out. Soon, It felt like his friends weren't surrounding him but at the same time, he could hear their voices. They were scolding Nero for being so reckless and getting hurt trying to climb the gate. 'Why am I alone?' Ikkxou pondered mentally.

The four of them heard footsteps, and coming up from behind them was Groose and his gang, along with Skully. They too, all had nets in their hands. "Eugh, what are you squirts doing here?" Groose questioned abruptly. Lena, Meru and Nero all turned around to face them. "Groose!" Nero growled. "What the hell are you guys doin' here?!"

Groose sneered, "We are here to investigate the mansion, it's part of our homework.."

Even though Ikkxou couldn't hardly see them all, he heard them arguing.

 _ **"WHAT?!" Lena shouted angrily.**_

 _ **"Why are you copyin' us, eh?!" Nero yelled.**_

 _ **"How could you..!" Meru gasped.**_

Groose scoffed and argued back, "Yeah, like any of us would _want_ to copy you losers." The burly teen smirked. "Fine, fastest ones through the gates will be the ones to explore this haunted mansion!"

Ikkxou gasped and his eyes widened. Nero growled, "You damn..!"

If Groose and his gang bust into the mansion, Zafira will be in danger. Strich and Cawlin cheered Groose on as he was about to punch down the gates, "Yeah! Go on, boss! Knock these gates down!" Groose cracked his knuckles and backed up slightly.

"Heh, watch _this_.." Groose uttered as he winded up a fist. Ikkxou's vision cleared up and he screamed at the top of his lungs. "STOP!" Ikkxou had launched forward and flew right into Grooses back, making the both of them break the gates open with complete force. The two of them landed onto the lawn of the house. Nero gasped in shock, "Ikkxou?!"

Groose stood up with anger fuming in his eyes, "You little bastard!" The burly teen grabbed Ikkxou and straddled himself on top of him. He grabbed onto his collar and raised a fist into the air. "I'll beat you to a bloody pulp for that!" Groose yelled.

"No!" Ikkxou cried out in fear just as Groose was about to pummel him. But a white light filled the area and engulfed him, and Ikkxou felt like he was being transported to another place.

* * *

 _ **-Old Mansion: White Room-**_

Once Ikkxou opened his eyes, he found himself inside of the mansion. He was inside of a completely white room with a table in the center of the room with two chairs on each end, and hanging on the wall were pictures that someone must've drawn themselves. Ikkxou stood up and looked around the room just before walking over to the large window and looking out to the front lawn of the mansion. "This place.."

The teen walked around the room and took a look at most of the pictures that were displayed on the wall. Noticably, most of them were pictures of Kioku with his companions, Spongebob and Patrick, but he came across a picture of him and that Rembex girl holding hands with hearts surrounding them. Ikkxou blushed, "This is me and.."

"That one is of you and Rembex." Zafira said as she walked into the room. Ikkxou turned around quickly, startled by her appearance. The girl gave a smile and nodded, "That's because you two liked each other."

Ikkxou blushed grew deeper and he shook his head, "W-wait, what?! No way!" He denied, which made Zafira giggled in amusement. The teen boy then looked over at Zafira and gave her a serious look. "Zafira, what exactly are you?"

Zafira smiled sadly, "I am the witch who manipulates the memories of Kioku and those tied to Kioku." Ikkxou tilted his head in confusion. The girl made a gesture for Ikkxou to sit down at the table, and so he did.

"A witch, isn't that someone who can use magic?" Ikkxou asked. Zafira shrugged, "That's what DiZ calls me.." Ikkxou raised an eyebrow, "Who is DiZ?"

Zafira tapped lightly on her sketchbook, "He watches over this town.." She answered, which made Ikkxou look even more confused. "As for magic, It would be nice to use more powerful magic.." She smiled mischeviously.

Ikkxou bit his lip and clenched his fists until his knuckled became white. He needed to know everything, and Zafira seemed to know about his fate after all. "Zafira, please..tell me everything you know.." He asked, making Zafira's smile slowly drop. "Who is _'Kioku'_?"

"Are we related in some way?" He asked again. Zafira moved some of her hair behind her ear, "That's probably something you would know best, huh?" She said softly. Ikkxou lowered his gaze, "Me?"

Zafira sighed and looked at Ikkxou, "Right now, Kioku is sleeping to regain his memories." the girl started, "Because over a year ago, I scrambled his memory." Zafira said, making Ikkxou give a surprised look. "And now, we're returning it to normal."

"Soon when Kioku's memory returns, he'll wake up. And when that time comes, you'll be needed." Zafira nodded. "You're carrying half of Kioku."

"Huh.." Ikkxou uttered in shock. Zafira swallowed spit and looked at the boy again, "You, Ikkxou, are not really suppose to exist."

 _ **Ikkxou! Wake up, man!**_

* * *

Ikkxou opened his eyes and he found himself out in front of the gates, with Nero, Meru and Lena all surrounding him. Nero had a bloody nose, and Lena looked a bit bruised up. "We chased those jerks away!" Nero cheered.

Meru looked up at the gates, "How unfortunate, looks like we won't be able to get into the mansion anyways." She sighed sadly. "Too bad.."

Lena shook her head, "In case there ain't any ghosts, let's just bring this to a conclusion." She announced. "Right," Nero agreed. Meru then gasped and quickly pointed at the second floor window. "Oh my gosh, look guys!"

Everyone turned their attention to the window and noticed that the curtains were moving slightly from a possible breeze within the mansion. Nero rolled his eyes, "Meru, it's just the curtains.." He sighed. Meru blushed in embarrassment and looked away. "Oh..sorry.." she apologized.

Ikkxou stood up and brushed the dirt off of his clothes, staring up at the window. He could see Zafira's figure through the breezing curtains. He thought about what she had said about him being Kioku's other half and about his accidental existence. How exactly did Zafira manage to scramble Kioku's memory?

"Hey, Ikkxou!" Nero's voice shouted, making the boy jump. He turned around and saw the other three walking into the woods. "C'mon, we're gonna go get some ice cream." He said, gesturing for the boy to come with them.

"Oh..right," Ikkxou nodded. The boy ran to catch up with his friends, and hurried to go get ice cream.

* * *

 _-_ _ **Computer Room-**_

Vlad tossed the crystal orb up and down, looking over DiZ's shoulder as he worked. "Alright," DiZ started, "I've put the finishing touches in place."

He turned around and looked up at Vlad, "I'm leaving Zafira's elimination up to you.."


	10. Chapter 9: Out of Time

_**Chapter 9: Out of Time**_

* * *

 _ **RESTORATION AT: 97%**_

 _Kioku summoned his Keyblade. He looked back at his friends, "You guys ready?"_

 _Kioku smirked. "I promised I would be back. But I was a little late.."_

 _Spongebob and Patrick smiled at Kioku, who was ready to go head on into danger._

 _"Wait are we waitin' for? Come on, let's go!" Kioku said, pointing his Keyblade forward._

 _"Okay, you win." Taiyo handed Kioku the Thalassa Shell Lucky Charm she was working on. On one of the Thalassa shells, she had drawn a small depiction of Kioku's face._

 _"Take this with you."_

 _"I knew it was you, after you turned into a Heartless." Taiyo said. "Where ever you go, I'm always with you. Don't you ever forget that."_

 _Kioku nodded. Taiyogave him a more serious look. "One more thing."_

 _"Huh?"_

 _"You'd better bring that Lucky Charm back to me! I worked pretty darn hard on it!" Taiyo bantered, making Kioku flinch again._

 _"You got it." Kioku nodded. "We're off."_

 _Just as Kioku turned around, Taiyoq uickly grabbed his hand. "Wait. One more thing."_

 _Kioku rolled his eyes and turned around. "What is it Tai-"_

 _Taiyo stepped closer to Kioku and she pressed her light pink lips up against his. Kioku's eyes grew big and his face turned red. Taiyoopened her mouth and kissed him again, wrapping her arms around his neck. Kioku slowly slipped his arms around her hips and held her. They held the kiss until they couldn't breathe. Taiyo opened her mouth and smooched his lips once last time, right before pulling away._

 _Everyone around them stood in silenced, while the princesses couldn't nearly stay composed. Spongebob and Patrick's jaws were agape. Kioku was in shock as he had kissed Taiyo, for the first time ever._

 _Taiyo caressed Kioku's cheek, "That was also for luck, too. Silly goose."_

 _Kioku, Spongebob and Patrick stood and overlooked the sea of darkness. Kioku clutched Taiyo's Lucky Charm in his hand._

 _"So..this is it.." Patrick said._

 _"Yup." Spongebob replied, awkwardly as he stared forward into the remains of the worlds decimated by the Heartless._

 _"So, this is all of that's left of the worlds destroyed by Heartless?" Kioku asked._

 _"Yup. Those worlds be will restored once we beat Vlad." Spongebob answered._

 _Kioku chuckled. "Sweet."_

 _Patrick rubbed his chin. "I wonder where that Vlad guy went.."_

 _"Dive into the most dangerous place, and we'll find him." Kioku nodded._

 _Suddenly a large orb of darkness appeared, and flooding out of it was a group of Heartless, along with another Behemoth Heartless. Kioku, Spongebob and Patrick readied their weapons._

 _The three exclaimed as they got a look at the World of Chaos._

 _"Holy crap!" Kioku shouted in shock._

 _"MOTHER OF NEPTUNE!" Spongebob and Patrick exclaimed._

 _Vlad laughed maniacally. "Behold the endless abyss of darkness!"_

 _"Within, lies the heart of all worlds...KINGDOM HEARTS!"_

 _Vlad bared a fangful smiled. "Every light must fade, every heart return to DARKNESS!"_

 _"Kingdom Hearts! Fill me with the power of darkness!" Vlad chanted._

 _A large white door sitting on a fragmented snowy platform was creaked open. And flowing out of it, was darkness._

 _"Damn! We gotta shut that door!" Kioku cursed._

 _"Right!" Spongebob nodded. As the three got ready to fly towards the big white door, thick wisps of darkness suddenly started to wrap around the three of them and tighten up, making it hard for them to move. Kioku struggled._

 _"Gah...ahhhhh...!" Kioku choked. His heart beat so fast, felt like it was going to explode._

 _Vlad laughed once again. "It is futile, the Keyblade alone cannot seal the Door to Darkness."_

 _Spongebob and Patrick struggled. "Hgh...Nhf..Ahh!"_

 _"And now! All of your hearts will return to darkness from whence it came!" Vlad shouted._

 _The darkness slowly began to swallow the three. Kioku growled._

 _"THAT'S WHERE YOU'RE WRONG!" Kioku shouted. "THAT'S NOT THE HEART'S TRUE ESSENCE!"_

 _Vlad raised an eyebrow. "What was that, boy?!" Vlad's voice echoed loudly. "What would you know about the heart? You know nothing.. you've learned nothing."_

 _"The heart may be weak, and sometimes...it may even give in.." Kioku's voice echoed. He again thought of Yoru and his fall into darkness._

 _"But I've learned. That deep down, there's a light that never goes out!" The wisps that were slowly swallowing Kioku, Spongebob and Patrick disappeared._

 _Vlad stuttered as the light inside of the door to darkness began to shine brighter than ever. He exclaimed in pain. "AAgghgahh!_

 _Vlad cried. "THE DARKNESS WILL EAT YOU ALIVE! KINGDOM HEART'S DARKNESS WILL RIP YOU TO BITS!"_

 _Kioku shook his head. The three stood in a trinity formation, facing each other. They pointed their weapons to the ground._

 _"We know now.." Kioku started._

 _"...Without a doubt." Spongebob added._

 _"Kingdom Hearts..." Patrick added._

 _The three lifted their weapons in the air in perfect synchronization. An orb of light forming in the middle of them exploding into a raging storm of light._

 _"...IS LIGHT!" The three shouted._

 _Vlad writhed and squirmed._

 _"WHA-?!"_

 _The warm light had began to engulf Vlad and his Heartless battleship._

 _"LIGHT?! BUT WHY-?!" Vlad cried._

 _"SO...W-WARM!"_

 _"Tartar sauce! The door is too heavy!" Spongebob shouted, pushing as hard as he could._

 _Beads of sweat started to drip from Kioku's forehead as he pushed. "It's so heavy."_

 _"Don't give up!" Another voice shouted._

 _Yoru appeared on the other side of the door, he gripped the door. "Come on, Kioku!"_

 _"Together we can do it!" Yoru smiled._

 _Kioku smiled and nodded. Spongebob and Patrick peered into the door and saw hordes of Heartless emerging from the inside._

 _"H-Hurry!" Kioku shouted._

 _"It's no use!" Spongebob cried._

 _On the inside, the shadowy figure of a large crab jumped up. It was holding a Keyblade. A bright, warm aura blazing around it. A good chunk of the Heartless were defeated. Spongebob and Patrick's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets at they looked at the figure._

 _"Your Majesty?!" The two said in shock._

 _The crab held up his Keyblade. "Now Kioku! Let's close this door for good, me boy!"_

 _"Close it quick!" Spongebob said._

 _"But..."_

 _King Krabs turned in their direction. "Don't worry, lad. There will always be a door to the light."_

 _Patrick nodded. "Kioku! You can trust King Krabs!"_

 _Yoru turned to King Krabs. "Now! They're coming!" he shouted._

 _King Krabs nodded. "Spongebob, Patrick..thank you, lads."_

 _Kioku, Spongebob and Patrick pushed and pushed, and the door was budging! As the door was closing, Yoru turned back to Kioku, smiling. His next words made Kioku stop briefly._

 _"Take care of her."_

 _Kioku ran and ran, until he finally got over to her._

 _"Taiyo!" Kioku called out to her._

 _Taiyo's face lit up as she saw Kioku._

 _"Kioku!"_

 _The two ran to meet each other. They hugged tightly, and parted to look each other in the eyes._

 _"How did you get here?" Kioku asked._

 _"I don't know, one moment I was with Link and the others and then I'm here." Taiyo said._

 _Suddenly the ground under them shook violently. The ground in between them was splitting apart._

 _"Ahh!" Taiyo exclaimed. Kioku grabbed her hand and Taiyo tightened her grip. The two held on tightly._

 _"Taiyo! Remember what I said before?" Kioku shouted. "I'm always with you too,"_

 _"I'll come back to you, I promise!" Kioku said, still holding on. Wisps of bright light fell softly from the dark sky as the two were splitting apart from each other._

 _"I know you will!" Taiyo shouted._

 _Kioku, Spongebob and Patrick walked down a single path in a vast grassy field. Kioku had his hands resting behind his head, a single piece of wheat hanging out of his mouth. Sponngebob and Patrick walked on both sides of him in their casual clothing. After they defeated Vlad, the Seeker of Darkness, and was separated from Taiyo. The three immediately began their search for Yoru and King Krabs._

 _Kioku looked up at the sky as they walked._

 _"Well, now what?" Spongebob asked._

 _"We've gotta find Yoru and King Krabs." Kioku replied._

 _Patrick chimed in. "But where do we start looking for the door to the light?"_

 _The three thought about and the all stopped in their tracks. Then, they all slumped over, sighing. Kioku they picked his head up and his face had the look of confusion_

 _"Huh?"_

 _Kioku saw a snail slither across the path. The snail looked over at them. Spongebob and Patrick looked down at the snail, as they seem to recognize them._

 _"Gary? A puzzled Spongebob said._

 _"Hiya, Gary! Where've you been?" Patrick asked. Gary meowed._

 _Kioku notices the envelope pasted on Gary's shell. "Huh?"_

 _"That's the King's seal!" Patrick said, pointing out the red KK on the letter._

 _"Hey, have you seen King Krabs?" Kioku asked. Gary meowed and turned around and started to slither away at a really fast pace._

 _"Hero of the Keyblade!"_

 _Kioku flipped up to his feet and summoned his Keyblade, the Guardian Locker. He looked around in caution. "Who's there?"_

 _He looked around some more, he heard Spongebob and Patrick mumbling in their sleep. "Mmm..save me some Krabby Patties, will ya?" Spongebob mumbled._

 _Kioku felt a strong presence far in front of him, he looked foward and saw a rather skinny figure, wearing a black coat. His face shrouded by a hood._

 _Kioku got into a stance with his Keyblade. The figure started to talk._

 _"Ahead lies something you need.."_

 _Kioku dashed towards and figure, intending to attack. "But to claim it.."_

 _"You must lose something that is dear to you."_

 _Kioku took a swing at the cloaked figure, but fell flat on his face as the figure disappeared. The figure appeared behind him. "Over here.." The cloaked man taunted as he appeared far behind Kioku. Kioku spun around only to find that the man in black had disappeared. Spongebob and Patrick slept soundly, along with Winslow._

 _"Damn." Kioku cursed under his breath, dismissing his Keyblade.  
_

 _Kioku, Spongebob and Patrick had arrived in front of a huge castle. The castle's architecture was very remarkable, with its tower's tops resembling an interesting isosceles triangle, and a noticable monster with horns on the center of the castle. Two smaller parts of the castle, lieing on floating islands are joined to the main structure by chains._

* * *

 _On a dark, quiet beach stood a tall man wearing a black hood. He gazed out at the sea calmly. He then heard footsteps in the sand approaching him, he turned and saw a teenaged boy wearing the same black hood as him. The man smirked, "I've been to see him."_

 _The hooded boy stopped and stood in front of the man. "He looks a lot like you," The hooded man finished._

* * *

 _A boy walked through the rain, wearing a black coat. with the hood shrouding his face. His long, blonde bangs showing slightly along with his cocky smirk. In his hands he held two Keyblades. One belonging to the light, while the other belonged to the darkness. The rain poured down endlessly, and he stepped foward, the sounds of his feet stomping through the puddle of rainwater were barely audible in the noisy rain. Around him were bright lights and tall buildings. Seems like he was in a city of some sort. Standing only far before him with a large skyscraper, outlined with neon lights that lit up in the night sky. Countless of black ink puddles surrounded him and in the blink of an eye, Heartless appeared. The Heartless were taller, more muscular versions of Shadows. Their antennas were longer and blue veins were popping out of their heads._

 _The hooded boy looked up and saw someone standing on top of the skyscraper, bearing the same black coat as he did. The boy's long, silver hair was tied back into a ponytail and his bangs flew wildly in the wind. His eyes were concealed by a black blindfold. But for some reason, he could sense the hooded boy's presence._

 _A few of the Neo-Shadows jumped at the Hooded boy, but he quickly swiped them into oblivion with his Keyblades. He started to cut a few of them down to size, adding in a couple of kicks. Some more Neo-Shadows hopped high into the air, threatening to attack from there. The hooded boy quickly tossed one of his Keyblades into the air and let it rapidly spin and tear through the Heartless. While his other Keyblade was ripping through countless of airborne Heartless, the hooded boy swiped through the the surrounding Heartless with a spinning slashed, taking out a large chunk of them._

 _He lifted his hand into the air and his second Keyblade came back to him. He ran to the bottom of the Skyscraper and looked up at the blindfolded boy. His grips on his Keyblades tightened and he jumped onto the Skyscraper and started to dash up the front of it. Heartless followed behind him and tried to hinder him by getting in front of him. The hooded boy's hands rapidly moved his Keyblades at a fast pace, chopping down all of the Heartless that jumped in front of him, while quickly making his way up the tall building. The hooded by cocked back and threw one of his Keyblades up the building, let it spin towards the blindfolded boy._

 _The blindfolded boy smirks and started to make his way down the Skyscraper. He caught and Keyblade and flew towards and Hooded boy. The hooded boy and the blindfolded boy were slowly about to meet up. Getting closer and closer. A loud clashing noise echoed throughout the city, and their Keyblade's were locked together. The blind folded boy took a swipe at the hooded boy, but he had quickly evaded the attack with a backflip. The blindfolded boy dashed at the hooded boy, striking his Keyblade forcefully and making the latter fall quickly towards the ground._

 _Regaining his footing in the air and quickly falling to the Heartless covered ground, the hooded boy plunged his Keyblade into the ground, making nearly all of the Heartless spring up into the air. The blindfolded boy jumped off of the side of the building and dashed over to the hooded boy with amazing speed. Soon, the two were locked in combat. Their Keyblade constantly clashing and slamming against each other, with fiery sparks emitting from them. In between swings they would occasionally cut away at the Heartless surrounding the combat area, to even out the field._

 _Soon all the Heartless were gone and the two stood on the opposite sides of the street. The glowing, captive hearts floating into the rainy air. The two readied their Keyblades. The rain started to get heavier, and the tension thickened. The lights of the dark city flickered and buzzed as the two dashed at each other and hopped into the air, getting ready to cut one another down._

 _The hooded boy quickly swung his Keyblade and knocked the blindfolded boy's Keyblade out of his hand, disarming him. He swung a few more times, with the blindfolded boy dodging the swings, but he felt his ponytail come undone from the hooded boy's stray swing. The hooded boy then spun around and kicked the boy in his chin, making him fly back and hit the ground in pain. The hooded boy spun his Keyblade and rested it on his shoulder and slowly walked towards the silverette boy, who had just sat up and wiped the fresh blood from his mouth. He spit, "Why?!"_

 _"Why do you have the Keyblade?!" The blindfolded silverette shouted over the rain. The hooded boy gave his Keyblade a look and then looked down at the silverette. "Shut up!" He then raised it in the air and brought the weapon down on him._

* * *

 _ **-The Old Mansion: White Room-**_

Zafira calmly sketched in her book with her making very precise marking without error. She was drawing a picture of Ikkxou and his three friends Nero, Lena and Meru standing atop of the large clock tower. She regularly swapped colored pencils as she drew this picture, adding different colors to the picture. After meeting with Ikkxou, she occassionally would think about her telling him everything. Everything that involved him being somehow connected to Kioku. What also came to mind was Vlad's hindrance of letting her tell Ikkxou the truth about himself, making part of her believe that maybe Ikkxou is better off ignorant.

"But is it better being ignorant?" Zafira asked herself, still sketching in her book. She sighed in annoyance as she couldn't even answer her own question. She pouted and continued to sketch. A portal of darkness appeared in front of her and stepping out of it was Vlad, who had his face shrouded with his hood. She looked up at the tall man as he had quickly presented a question to her. "Are the preparations for Kioku complete?"

The teen nodded, "Yes, we'll be able to meet again pretty soon." Vlad raised an eyebrow as he looked down at the picture Zafira was drawing, which made the girl shuffle nervously in her seat. "That picture.."

Zafira blushed, "Um..It's Ikkxou and his friends from that world." She smiled sadly and lightly set her pencil down. "You know, as nice as it feels to live like this. DiZ said, when my job is done I'll no longer be needed." Vlad stayed quiet as the girl turned to look up at him.

"I know, you've come to erase me. But please do me this one favor." Zafira started. "Please let me see Ikkxou one last time. There's I have to tell him, no matter what!" She said, raising her voice slightly.

* * *

 _ **-Where Nothing Gathers-**_

In the round, white room in some far away world, was a gathering between 7 people who all wore black coats At the meeting, Rembex was arguing with the rest of the members about Ikkxou...after failing to bring him back again.

"You 'couldn't bring him back?', One of the hoods exclaimed. Rembex sighed and tried to reason with them, "There was nothing I could do! The kid's forgotten everything!"

The girl sighed again, "Come on..just gimme a little bit more time. That's all I need."

The hooded being in the highest chair looked down at Rembex, "There is no more time." He said darkly. "If you cannot bring him back..simply erase him..."

Rembex gasped at her superior's words. She was presented with an idea she before refused to carry out. But now, it seems like it's the only thing she must do in order for her not to be stripped of her rank and turned into a dusk. Rembex swallowed spit and took a deep breath, "Alright..whatever.."

* * *

 _ **-Twilight Town: The Usual Spot-**_

It was two days after the ghost investigation over at the Mansion, and today was officially the last day of summer vacation. After Ikkxou had woken up from the usual weird dreams and had gotten dressed, he headed over to the Usual Spot to meet up with his friends and sulk together at the thought of school starting up again. The blonde haired boy entered the usual spot and he saw his friends standing in a circle and talking. He rubbed the back of his neck, "Man, I could not sleep last night," He announced, but to his surprise he didn't get a response. The other three just kept talking and carrying on like as if Ikkxou wasn't there. The boy raised an eyebrow and reached out to touch Nero's shoulder. "Hey."

Ikkxou nearly let out a loud shriek as his hand went right through Nero's back, he quickly jumped back in horror. Meru and Lena had then laughed at something Nero had said, making Ikkxou glare at them. "Hey! This isn't funny, you know!" the boy shouted, "How did-"

Nero, Meru and Lena then turned around to face Ikkxou, all three of them sharing a blank expression. It was like the three of them were peering into his soul, it made Ikkxou feel like they had forgotten all about him. The three then ran right through the boy, leaving the Usual Spot and running into the alleyways. Ikkxou freaked out again, and he wonder how in the world they could just run right past him and not say a word. Ikkxou stood in the empty room, appalled and hurt from being flat out ignored by his friends. He felt tears well up in his eyes and he quickly wiped them and sniffled. "Why did they just ignore me..why did they run right through me.."

A corridor of darkness had then opened up from behind him, making him spin around. Rembex stepped out of the portal of swirling darkness and gave the boy a dark stare. "Hey.."

She noticed tears streaming down Ikkxou's face, along with looking into his glassy eyes and rosy cheeks. "Jeez kid, what's with the face?"

Ikkxou wiped his face again, "What are you doing here?" he asked. Rembex rubbed the back of her neck, "Uh..I've been ordered to do something pretty bad." She answered. "Put it like that." She continued, "Basically, If you don't come back to us. I'll have to destroy you."

Ikkxou gasped, just before slowly looking towards the ground. "You mean..you'll kill me?" Rembex quickly responded. "I mean I really don't want to, if that's what you're thinking!"

Ikkxou blushed and looked up at Rembex, "We're..friends, right?" He paused. "Special kind of friends?"

Rembex's face lit up, "Ikky! You remembered!" she then blushed slightly. "Yeah..I guess we were something _special_ , huh?"

Ikkxou shifted his eyes elsewhere, "We..don't exist? We can't exist?"

Rembex's face dropped, she rolled her eyes. "Gosh, what are you even saying anymore?" She groaned. "You really had me going, thinking you remembered and all."

She slowly started to stroll around the room, "You really have forgotten everything and frankly, I'm pretty jealous." Rembex's guitar had then appeared in her hand in a flourish of flames. "I'm about to teach you a little something, Ikkxou."

With a large swing from her guitar, she knocked over the nightstand which held the lamp and a few books on it. Rembex took another swing and slammed her guitar into the shelves and knocked down the framed pictures of Ikkxou and his friends. The boy shouted, "Hey! Stop it! What are you doing?!"

Rembex growled, "You dumb dipstick! Don't you get it?" She slammed her guitar into more of Ikkxou's things. "This city is fabricated, everything!"

"Every building, every lamp post. Every single damn thing here is nothing but coding and numbers!" Rembex shouted angrily, smashed more stuff out of pure rage. Ikkxou watched on in horror as Rembex wrecked more stuff, her words about the town echoing and repeating in his head. Fabricated? Is everything Ikkxou thought about this town a lie? Was every moment he spent here just an illusion? Ikkxou couldn't wrap his head around the thought of himself being surrounded by a bunch of data. People that aren't even real. Feeling that aren't even real. It was all too much for the boy to handle, and he just wanted to scream.

He calmy sat on the edge of the couch in silence, while Rembex was nearly tired out from smashing everything in the Usual Spot into rubble. She turned to look at Ikkxou, "Hey, Ikky.."

"There's still time.." Rembex said softly. "I can save you from this place. You can come home."

Ikkxou gritted his teeth and shot a nasty glare at Rembex, and in a flash of light his Keyblade heeded his call. He stood up and got into a stance with it. Rembex sneered at the boy, "You dumbass.." She cracked her neck and got into a stance. "You better not regret this!"

Rembex raised her hand into the air as if she was getting ready to play a single coord and burn Ikkxou to a crisp, but her body had completely froze. Along with her facial expression. Ikkxou gave the frozen girl a stare, wondering how she was able to just stop like that.

 _ **"IKKXOU!"**_ a loud voice echoed in the boy's head.

 _ **"COME TO THE MANSION!"**_

Ikkxou sighed and lowered his Keyblade, his eyes shifted towards the floor and he glanced at a picture of Nero, Meru, Lena and him all at the beach. He exhaled sadly as he muttered their names to himself. His eyes then narrowed into a determined glare and he turned to run into the alleyways, holding his Keyblade over his shoulder as he ran. He wanted to know what was going on and why the last week of his summer vacation had to be the most weirdest and emotionally stressful one at that.

Rembex lowered her guitar and scoffed. "I understand, the Ikkxou I know is already gone for good."


	11. Final Chapter: Critical Breakdown

_**Chapter 10: Critical Breakdown**_

 _ **(Battle Theme: Critical Deep Drive)**_

 _ **"IKKXOU! COME TO THE MANSION!"**_ The loud voice echoed throughout the town. _**"TIME'S UP!"**_

As Ikkxou made a mad dash further into town, his sadness and confusion about everything was converted into pure rage at this point. Every single moment he spent in this town, every single person he interacted with, even with his friends, was nothing but a complete lie. Not only was the town fabricated, but so were his memories of this place. The boy had suddenly halted in his tracks as droves of Nobody monsters had started to appear and surround him. Ikkxou clutched his Keyblade tightly, feeling a familiar vibe. Like the tension that was thickening at this moment had happened before. Ikkxou snarled at the monsters, "Get the hell outta my way.."

The Nobody's had then started to slowly close Ikkxou in, only making the boy angrier. "I SAID MOVE!" Ikkxou spun around with his Keyblade and knocked all of the Dusks back with a spinning strike, and used the time he bought to make a run for it. The boy managed to make it all the way to the hole in the wall that lead into the woods. He heard the wind swirling behind him and when he looked back he saw the large horde of Dusks tailing him. The boy quickly dashed into the woods, hoping to outrun them.

* * *

 _ **-Twilight Town: Mansion Gates-**_

After quickly trudging through the woods, Ikkxou made it up to the mansion's gates. When he tried to push the gates open, they didn't even budge as they were locked tightly. "L-Locked?!"

Ikkxou shouted angrily into the air. "You called me here, you could've at least left the gate open!" The boy was then startled by the swirling drove of Dusks coming his way. Ikkxou tightened his grip on his Keyblade and held it up in a defensive manner, hoping to at least block the flurry of attacks that were sure to come to him. Suddenly, a corridor of darkness had opened up in front of him and the hooded person coming out of it had slashed the group of Dusks and eliminated them immediately. When the black portal disappeared, Ikkxou raised an eyebrow. "What..? You..?" The blonde muttered.

"Hurry up and go!" The hooded man ordered, quickly dodging a Dusk's attack and countering with another slash from his sword. Ikkxou argued, "What do you mean, 'go'? The gate is.."

The boy gasped as the image of the boy from his dreams, Kioku, using his own Keyblade to lock a keyhole briefly appeared in his mind. "Right.." Ikkxou nodded and aimed his Keyblade at the large keyhole on the gate. A beam of light shot out from the end of the Keyblade and went into the hole. and soon afterwards a loud unlocking sound had sounded off, signaling that the gate had been unlocked. Ikkxou had then pushed the gates open and quickly ran into the mansion.

* * *

 _ **-Old Mansion: Foyer-**_

Ikkxou entered the mansion and looked around to take in the setting. This place looked like it hadn't been used in years. Nearly everything was covered in cobwebs and was disgustingly dusty. Ikkxou dismissed his Keyblade and shouted out, "HEY! I'm here!"

No answer. It seemed like the person wanted Ikkxou to explore the mansion a little bit..for some odd reason. The boy then thought about Zafira and remembered that she did reside here. Since her room was on the left side of the mansion, Ikkxou went straight there.

* * *

 _ **-Old Mansion: White Room-**_

"Zafira?" Ikkxou called out softly as he opened the door and stepped into the white room. He looked around and saw that she wasn't in here. He let out a disappointed sigh and started to slowly stroll around the room for a bit. His eyes shifted towards the table and he saw Zafira's sketch book was there, but what caught Ikkxou's attention was the picture that she drew.

It was a picture of Ikkxou, Nero, Meru and Lena all sitting on the large clock tower, each of them having sea-salt ice cream in their hands. Looking at the picture only made Ikkxou think about how fabricated everything was and he quickly turned his attention to something else. It was also sort of weird, too. How exactly did she know that Ikkxou and his friends sat on the clock tower and eat ice cream?

The boy continued to look at the pictures Zafira had on display and he soon came across another picture that caught his eye. It was a picture that looked like him wearing a black cloak, walking alone in a dark city. A sharp pain zipped started to emit from Ikkxou's head, causing the boy to clutch it in pain. "Agh..what the.."

* * *

 _Ikkxou walked through the dark city, a serious expression branded on his face. For the first time in a while, he had let his hair down and he had taken out the hairpins Rembex had given to him as a gift. In his hand, he held the Oathkeeper Keyblade. His mind was set on one thing, and nothing was going to stop him. He was far too determined to turn back now._

 _"Is your mind made up?" Rembex's voice softly called out. Ikkxou stopped in his tracks and turned around. He saw the girl leaning up against a building with her arms folded. Even though she tried to look calm, she occasionally shifted her body around nervously._

 _"Why did the Keyblade choose me?" Ikkxou asked, his voice losing the cheerful and naivety it once had before. He now sounded more mature, and definitely more serious. "I have to know." Ikkxou said, turning around to continue walking._

 _Rembex sprung up, "You can't turn on the Syndicate, you dipstick!"_

* * *

"Ngh! Ahh!" Ikkxou grunted in pain as he clutched his head, trying to stop ringing pain. Soon, the pain faded and his mouth fixed to say something. "Syndicate..XIII." Ikkxou remembered something, and it involved that Rembex girl. Apparently he was trying to find out why the Keyblade had chosen him, but in turn he would be turning on the Syndicate somehow.

"Did you remember something, Ikkxou?" Zafira's voice asked. Ikkxou spun around and he saw Zafira sitting down at the table, looking right at him. The boy sighed, "I don't know.."

"In fact, I don't even know what to do anymore.." Ikkxou sighed sadly. Zafira nodded, "Well, as the hero of the Keyblade everyone needs," She started. "Go awaken Kioku.." Zafira's voice had started to cut out and become distorted and almost begin to sound static-like. Ikkxou tilted his head in confusion. "Go..awaken Kioku..?"

In a sudden instant, a spiral of binary coding appeared next to Zafira and teleporting into the room was DiZ, a man Ikkxou remembered from the Struggle tournament. "What are you doing?" The bandaged man asked. Ikkxou flinched, "Huh?"

The boy tried to get Zafira's attentions, but she wasn't responding or even looking in his direction. DiZ shook his head slowly, "Zafira isn't in the room, what you need to do is go down to the library in the basement." The man ordered.

Ikkxou gritted his teeth angrily, "Hey! We were in the middle of talking!"

"I'll tell you everything you need to know, just go." DiZ repeated patiently. Ikkxou was about to argue back, but a corridor of darkness had opened up beside him and coming out of it was the actual Zafira. She ran over to Ikkxou and grabbed him, which caused DiZ to shout angrily. "Zafira! Do you really want to be erased?!" He quickly walked over to the girl and snatched her away, using his other hand to open his own corridor of darkness.

"Ikkxou!" Zafira shouted. "You won't disappear, you'll just go back!"

Ikkxou reached out to the girl, "Wait!"

"We'll see each other again! I promise!" Zafira shouted again as DiZ pulled her into the portal. The boy tried to run after her, but the portal had already been closed.

Ikkxou sighed, thinking about Zafira's last words. "What does she mean about me not disappearing?"

* * *

 _ **-Meanwhile-**_

"You stay in here!", DiZ angrily threw Zafira into a dark closet. She was too frightened to say anything back as she could only see the scary glare DiZ was giving her. The man slammed the door shut and locked it. He turned to the hooded Vlad, "I thought I told you to finish her off.."

Vlad shook his head, "I have no intention on going that far." He said. "You want it done, then do it yourself.."

DiZ smirked, "I see.."

"Besides," Vlad started. "There's way too many Nobodies out there. The town is practically flooded with those things. Do something about that." DiZ said nothing back as he quickly walked over to the computer. He tapped a few buttons, "The final struggle?" He uttered.

"I'm afraid it's far too late for that," DiZ chuckled. He looked up at the screen and all of the Nobodies that were overpopulating the town were being erased almost instantly. The monsters had began to disappear in a series of binarial coding. Witnessing the deletion of all of the Nobodies in the town, DiZ had began to laugh in a maniacal manner. Vlad stayed silent as he watched DiZ continously delete Nobodies within the town.

Ikkxou had went down to the Library like DiZ had told him to, but of course he wasn't there to meet him. "Yup, just like before. You call me down here and you're not even here." The boy sighed and walked up to the bookshelf and had begin to pick out a book to read. "Guess I'll just read something until he gets here.."

Once the boy took out a book, the bookshelf had moved over and revealed a flight of steps leading down into a basement. Ikkxou nodded to himself, "Oh, so that's what he meant by 'basement'."

He walked down the steps and entered the basement of the mansion. When he got there, he saw a large computer with multiple screens. He looked around for DiZ and he was still no where to be found. Ikkxou walked closer to the computer and soon enough, his head had begin to hurt just like before. "Ah! Ngh..uh.." The boy quickly clutched his head, the pain getting worse than before. "Damn it!" The boy dropped to his knees as the pain got more intense.

* * *

 _The hooded boy spun his Keyblade and rested it on his shoulder and slowly walked towards the silverette boy, who had just sat up and wiped the fresh blood from his mouth. He spit, "Why?!"_

 _"Why do you have the Keyblade?!" The blindfolded silverette shouted over the rain. The hooded boy gave his Keyblade a look and then looked down at the silverette. "Shut up!" He then raised it in the air and brought the weapon down on him. The silverette quickly blocked the attack and summoned his Keyblade back to him. "Araaagh!" The blindfolded boy retailiated with a swing and knocked Ikkxou back. The boy into a puddle of water, completely unconscious. The blindfolded boy dismissed the Keyblade and walked over towards him._

* * *

 _"So..what's the plan?"_

 _ **"I want to buy some time so that Zafira can finish piecing together Kioku's memories."**_

 _"And what do we do with Ikkxou?"_

 _ **"Give him another memory, and let him live out his new life in the simulated version of Twilight Town."**_

 _ **"It'll decieve the Syndicate XIII's eyes. And when the time comes, he'll vanish for us.."**_

 _"How pitiful.."_

 _ **"It's only the fate of a Nobody. I wouldn't pity it."**_

 _ **"Now, put him in the machine. Let's give our friend a taste of his new life."**_

* * *

"Graaahh!"

Ikkxou screamed as loud as he could and summoned his Keyblade in a fit of anger. He jumped up and smashed a screen of the computer, shattering it instantly on impact. "I was nothing from the start!" He smashed his Keyblade into a few more computer screens and shattered them. "I was tricked! Lied to! Played like a fool!"

He was fuming with anger now that he learned what really happened. He was stripped of his memories and locked away into a virtual prison which fooled him into thinking it was the real thing. Everything was truly a lie. The town, his friends. In fact, it was all just a dream. Ikkxou huffed and panted, tired out from smashing the computer up out of rage. He then heard clapping from behind him, which made him spin around. It was Rembex.

"Rembex.." Ikkxou said softly.

"That was pretty flashy." She smiled. "And on top of that, you remembered everything." Rembex's guitar had then appeared in her hand after a flurry of flames. "But it's way too late, dipstick!" She played a coord which caused a wave of flames to shoot out at Ikkxou and knock him back into a wall. The boy crashed right through it and found himself into a wider, more spacey room. He backed away from the hole he just crashed through and saw Rembex slowly walking towards him, a trail of fire following her. "Didn't I warn you already?" She knocked the entire wall down by smashing it with her guitar.

* * *

 _"Ikkxou, you know what's gonna happen if you become an enemy of the Syndicate. Yet you're still leaving?!" Rembex shouted, her voice breaking. Ikkxou turned around and ran over her, which made the girl flinch slightly. He grabbed her face and brung it towards his and locked their lips into a soft kiss._

 _Rembex's eyes were wide open as the boy had taken her by surprise. But after a few seconds, her eyes closed and she brung him closer to her and kissed him back. The boy then broke the kiss and gazed into her eyes, "No one's gonna miss me." Ikkxou smiled sadly. He flipped on his hood, the sound of thunder quietly booming. A few droplets of rain had started to fall. "After all, we're nobodies. We can't feel joy or sorrow. Even if we could feel, in the end we don't have a heart."_

 _Ikkxou softly brung his lips towards Rembex's and gave her one last kiss, and then he walked off. The rain had started to fall heavily, and the girl had the look of sorrow on her face. "But..I'll miss you.."_

* * *

The room around them had begin to burst into flames and Rembex's ponytail was flaring up and had begin to resemble a flame as well. "I can't go back like this, or I'll be erased. So I don't have a choice. I gotta kill you.."

Ikkxou glared at Rembex, "Well I'm not gonna let you erase me that easily.." The boy reached out and summoned Two Become One, only for the blade to split into two, a jet black Keyblade in his left hand, with a gray-white Keyblade in his right one. The names rang in his ear, _**Edge of Darkside** and **Edge of Twilight**. _ Ikkxou twirled the Keyblades in his hands and got into a stance with them.

Rembex gasped. "Two Keyblades?" She scoffed. "Nevermind the fancy tricks, let's get this over with!"

* * *

 _ **(Battle Theme: 13th Struggle)**_

Rembex strummed her guitar a few more times and sent more waves of fire flying towards Ikkxou, who effortlessly swiped the attacks away with two swings from his Keyblades. The teen leaped forward and had begin to swat Rembex continuously, wildly swinging his Keyblades in left-and-right sweeping combos, and then dashed straight ahead with a powerful dual-outward thrust.The girl dodged out of the way of Ikkxou's attack and smashed her guitar into his back and knocked him away. "Isn't this fun?!" She asked loudly. Ikkxou quickly recovered, his back ringing with pain. "Heh..haha.." the boy laughed. Rembex taunted, "C'mon, come at me again!"

Ikkxou readied his Keyblades, "If you say so." The boy dashed towards Rembex and swatted at her, but she had vanished into the flames. Ikkxou looked around cautiously, wondering where she could have went in such a limited space. He kept his guard up and slowly circled the room of fire, the girl's cackling haunting him.

"GOTCHA!" Rembex shouted as she sprung out from a wall of fire and dashed towards Ikkxou. The boy quickly spun around and tossed one of his Keyblades at her and knocked her into the air. Ikkxou quickly slid across the flaming floor and summoned his Keyblade back to him and launched her higher into the air. The two circled around in the air and traded a few blows, with their weapons clashing and smashing against each other's. Ikkxou raised his Keyblades into the air, "Gotcha!", he recited before forcefully bringing them down on Rembex's shoulders and sent her flying back down to the flaming floor. She exclaimed in pain as she hit the floor, "AAGHHH!"

Ikkxou smirked and flew down towards her, "I can't go back!" The boy then came crashing on top of Rembex, with both of his Keyblades impaling her chest on impact. Rembex's eyes were wide open, her lips quivering slightly. "Tch..that was fun.." She said in a strained tone.

Ikkxou stood up and took his Keyblades from out of her chest, dismissing them in a flash of light and darkness. "Y-Yeah.." He replied softly, looking away from her disappearing body. The room that was once engulfed in flames was slowly extinguishing around them, reverting the room back to normal. Rembex smiled weakly, "Let's meet again—in the next life.." She said, her body starting to fade away into darkness completely. Ikkxou nodded, "Yeah, wait for me.."

Once Rembex had completely faded away, Ikkxou looked towards a door that had opened up and emitted a bright light. He dismissed his Keyblades and walked into the bright hallway. The hallway contained a few pods that were lined up on the walls. As Ikkxou walked passed two of them, he looked and noticed the two people sleeping in them. A yellow sponge, and a pink starfish. These were the two people that traveled with Kioku. "Spongebob and Patrick."

The boy continued on and got to the end of the hallway and opened the door that lead into a bright, white room with a bigger pod sitting in the middle of the room. Standing in front of the pod was DiZ, who had seemed to be waiting for him. Ikkxou summoned his Keyblade and started to walk towards him.

"You've finally come, Hero of the Keyblade." DiZ said, his voice echoing in the large room. The boy couldn't do anything else but glare at him, as he had no more anger left in him to scream or shout.

"Come, I want you to do something." DiZ said. "In a few moments, the 'real' hero will wake up. And you must return that 'existence' to him." He continued. "And when he wakes up, you'll disappear." Ikkxou loosened his grip on his Keyblade, "Why though—why me?" he asked.

"Because you hold half of his 'strength'." DiZ answered. "And because you're a Nobody."

Ikkxou gripped his Keyblade again and slashed through DiZ, his Keyblade phasing through him like a ghost. He swatted again and again, but every time he would strike DiZ, it would feel like he was only hitting air. DiZ sighed, "I'm sorry, but this is only a data projection.."

Tears streamed down Ikkxou's face, "I really, really hate you.." He sobbed. "I hate you so much..!"

DiZ chuckled, "You should share some of that hatred with Kioku. The boy is far too nice for his own good." The man then disappeared in a series of binary coding, leaving Ikkxou alone. The boy shouted angrily. "NO! MY HEART BELONGS TO ME!"

Ikkxou was then startled by the loud rumbling of the pod behind him. He turned around and saw that the large, white pod had started to slowly open up and unfold like a blooming flower. Ikkxou's eyes watered even more as the pod had finished opening, revealing the sleeping boy on the inside. Finally, Ikkxou could stop having doubts about himself as he had now just came face to face with the boy from his dreams. The boy who was about his age, and carried a Keyblade just like him. The boy who traversed to many worlds, made both friends and enemies along the way. The boy who vanquished the darkness and restored all worlds. The boy who he held half of. Although now, the boy had aged one year, so he looked a tad bit different than he remembered. Ikkxou sniffled and smiled, "Heh, Kioku..you're lucky.."

"I guess my summer vacation is over now..."


End file.
